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"... . *Cocks Shotgun*"

-Doomguy (Doom)

Whenever I played something with either silent or speaking protagonist I didn't really concerned by it, but everytime I find myself in a websites or forums where people discuss about silent or voiced protagonist, I realize that I actually have (kinda) the same thoughts as some of them, I just didn't know if I do. But after I put everything together to see which one I actually prefer, what I've come up with just makes me more confused. 

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The Pros and Cons of Both Are Different for Each Player. And Here's Mine

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^{*Awkward silence*}

One of the biggest reason why silent protagonist could be better is because leaving the main protagonist's dialogue voice to the player's head feels better. In RPG with character creation feature, beyond imagining the voice of the controlled character it let me to project my own emotions to the character, which create a connection with the created character. Sure I enjoyed that but sometimes I did find it strange playing as a character who is never utter a single word in a world where everyone around you could talk, even a dog too. 

When I play (newer) RPG with voiced protagonist, it still immerse me as much as the ones with silent protagonist eventhough I can't fill the character with my own ideas, emotions or personalities. I like hearing my characters uttering sarcasms, insults, and having them open their mouth while someone else is talking to them. 

However, this also comes with problems too. There is posibility that players won't like the character's voice, speaking manner, accent or personality. That got me to think that if devs could made pitch editor feature it could decrease that unwanted possibility, but you know.. Different engine, development pipe-line, budget and all that, must be also the reasons why they don't made that. 

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In non RPGs where there is less dialogue options, at first I thought voiced protagonist is better in order to deliver the stories properly. But hey, look at BioShock, Half-Life, Doom, and Portal. Who don't like Doomguy or Gordon Freeman? (Well maybe there are people who don't, but come on..). One could argue that silent protagonists are the result of the developers' laziness and/or lack of creativity, but of course it's not necessarily true. Like Half-Life for example, I just find out that Valve designed Gordon Freeman to be a silent protagonist on purpose and it's explained in Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. So it could be simply the developer's choice to make chatty main protagonists or make them shut up and kickass.  

So how silent protagonist could be better exactly? (That's how I asked myself, by the way) Just as I said before, to fill your controlled character with your own ideas, emotions, personalities, voice, and to be them could greatly immersive. Isn't that one of the best aspects video game can give? To let us to be part of the game. Whatever the genre is, I agree that there are times where the protagonist don't need to speak at all. 

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But again, there is a time when it feel strange to me to have a silent protagonist, thought it doesn't mean it's not good. In the first Dishonored, Corvo didn't talk throughout the entire game but Daud did. But I think it's "Ok" for me, I love how I thought Daud was a complete a-hole and then the true story was unfolded when I played as Daud as he also helped to explain to the player what's really going on. In Dishonored 2, Arkane decided to make Corvo to be no longer a silent protagonist because they too think that it was "OK" to have him silent in the previous game, but would be better if he talk in the next game.

While I enjoy playing as a silent badass, I also love to hear what would the protagonists say and how would they respond in their own personality to the given situations. It makes the story more impactful to me. To know who they are or listen to their story of how they got there in the first place is the part of the game's plot that I'd love to see. Sometimes I intentionally do or approach something off the wall to see how the protagonist respond to it and to see if he/she have interesting things to say about it. That kind of small detail greatly immerse me. 

Anyway, how voiced protagonist could be better exactly? When something happen and the protagonist respond in their own dialogue and emotion, it just feels good to have the "project your own emotions" turned the other way around into the protagonist is the one who will tell the player how he/she think or feel, and successfully made the player feel the same way too. 

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So I think I don't have specific choice of preference between these two concepts, I'd like to see how both works in different games. Sure there are cons in both but that don't make my experience less enjoyable to play both silent and voiced protagonists. I don't think it'd be bad to have different type of characters in games as well, so yeah I'm okay with silent and talkative protagonists. The only question left is how both type of protagonists fit in with the storytelling and gameplay experience. How about you? Do you have a specific preference, or just like me, or do you have other thought about this? Either way, I hope you like my post.

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