Rant: Silent Protagonists
Breath of Fire is a bit of a cult hit RPG series in the US, as far as the extent that I know. Some may not know it, but if they do, they usually appreciate one of the games from the series in some form or another.
One complaint I hear from my friends is that the protagonist, Ryu, in III and IV does not actually speak at any point. This, in itself, may not be that odd because there are quite a few games wherein we play in the first or third perspective, and the character we are in control of never utters a word, even in today’s ever-growing world of voice-scripted games.
But, just because this is common, does not mean it is always good. The silent protagonist, as portrayed in those two games, is actually one of the Minor Flaws in them, because it isn’t as if I am injecting my own voice in place of his, or I am able to make a lot of choices on his behalf. Oh no, almost all cutscenes or dialogues he finds himself in carry on without so much as any prompting of mine, short of pressing a button to continue. Hell, even the other characters can seemingly understand what he’s saying.
“Oh, he’s not mute. The writers are just lazy want you to inject your own voice in his place!”
This is all well and good, but I’m not buying it. You know what games do this right? Persona 3 and 4. Why? It’s pretty simple: it puts me in the protagonist’s shoes, quite literally. I am not simply guiding some invisible hand to direct him through towns and battle commands, I am actually shaping his interactions with others, and even if the input may not drastically change the outcome of the games themselves, I am able to craft his personality as I wish. Dialog options let me often choose either a neutral path, a polite/friendly approach, or to be a stone-cold jerk.
In the end, I still like those games a lot. The approach to the silent protagonist was often more humorous than series in the BoF games, which I suppose softens the blow a good bit. It’s kind of how I like Half-Life 2, on the whole, but I can’t stand the fact that it’s so serious, when I can’t help but think that Gordon Freeman is mute, and communicates via a large LED display on his face, or something. I have no idea how else people are talking to him and interpreting his decisions and motivations. I mean, it’s not like he can use sign language with a gun in his hand(s), now can he? As far as I can tell, they never even lampshade this fact, which I keep waiting for.
So, again, having a silent protagonist can be a wonderful storytelling element, if done properly! More writers should take note of how BoF III and IV did it, but look to Persona 3 and 4 for the gold standard. Then, I believe, we can all benefit more from it.
