Video gaming has changed a lot in the last 25 years. Games, including Nintendo‘s, have switched from mainly 2D to mainly 3D, and the graphics have gotten increasingly more realistic and detailed with every new video gaming console generation. This has created some new challenges for video game developers. However, you might be surprised to learn of a challenge in particular that the creator of Dragon Quest has mentioned.
Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii and Metaphor: ReFantazio producer Katsura Hashino recently participated in a dialogue event about RPGs. At one point, Horii talks about “the symbolic protagonist”, one of the core aspects of Dragon Quest. At the time, graphics were 2D and not as detailed, meaning that it was easier for players to insert themselves into the game as the silent protagonist and project their own emotions and reactions onto the character. However, Horii says that “as game graphics evolve and grow increasingly realistic, if you make a protagonist who just stands there, they will look like an idiot”.
Horii also notes that there isn’t an easy solution to this problem. The reason for that is because having the protagonist clearly react to events can risk immersion being lost as the players may have a difficult time relating and connecting with the character. Horii said that “that’s why, the type of protagonist featured in Dragon Quest becomes increasingly difficult to depict as games become more realistic. This will be a challenge in the future too,”
Simple: stop this “silent protagonist” nonsense.
The whole silent protagonist thing was only valid when storytelling in games were minimal to non-existent. As games got bigger and the storytelling increased, making characters feel more like characters, the silent protagonist started being more out of place. Truth be told, the whole “insert yourself into the game” never made sense considering that, bar a very extensive CaC system, there’s almost no way to truly insert yourself into a story.
AoC was a blatant example of how a silent protagonist was utterly detrimental to the story. Whenever Link was around, the story stopped on its tracks. From the moment you couldn’t even rename Link in BotW, it was clear he was supposed to be his own character instead of an insert for the player.
Honestly I hope for less and less silent protagonists. Protagonists need to be the stars of the story, instead of vectors through which the story unfolds.
Silent protagonists are absolutely still viable. Let’s see…
You got Mario (and contrast the success of the Mario series with Sonic), Pokemon, all the Fromsoft soulslike games, the mainline Legend of Zelda games, Metroid, I think the early Halo games maybe? Anyways, there’s a lot. And there’s a lot of great games with speaking protagonists. Also some mid to bad games with silent protagonists. And some mid to bad games with speaking protagonists.
The point is that it always comes down to design and execution.
ok boomer
Ahh, yet another dull-brained silent protagonist hater, completely lacking in imagination and has to have everything explicitly explained for him or he won’t understand, utterly lacking in sublety that they need to have the main character constantly talking to them or they just can’t cope.
What a sad existance you lead.
I love silent protagonists. There’s charm and mystery in it if done right. It seems like everyone demands voice acting now, which then makes it even more difficult to have silent protagonists. Voice acting has its place but sometimes (oftentimes) it can actually ruin a game. Of course, speaking protagonists are great too (with or without voice acting), it just depends on the game.
It depends on the game, but I feel like even in modern times it’s a lot easier to feel a part of the world as the main character when the protagonist is silent. But in other games, there are times where I like the characters talking even though I no longer feel I’m role playing. I think that’s the key these designers need to keep in mind. Do they want us to feel like we are role playing and a part of the experience or an outside observer who is along for the ride but not really a part of what’s going on.