 When people talk about the Dragon Quest series, more often than not I hear a lot of opinions about the future of the series and how the game should change. From changing up to combat, to the entire structure of the world. One thing I've heard thrown around a lot is that Dragon Quest is a future main character who speaks with a voice. And this kind of discussion isn't usually just limited to Dragon Quest. There are countless games where the protagonist doesn't talk. It's one of gaming's oldest and most widely used tropes. Many games to this very day star protagonists with no voice. Protagonists who don't speak a word. At some point, every franchise starring a silent protagonist will get some kind of criticism for this. Usually a discussion will pop up where someone will say, hey, Link from the Legend of Zelda should talk and have a personality. Well, we've seen that done before and it already makes a great case against speaking protagonists. The truth is no, having a silent protagonist in a game isn't a bad thing. Despite what some may say, it's not outdated, it's not a relic of the past or anything like that. In fact, having a silent protagonist is often times a good thing for a number of reasons. Let's start by talking about why silent protagonists are even a thing. You see, in the early days, back when they were making adventure games on the NES, the inclusion of silent protagonists had multiple purposes. First the obvious one, it allowed more time and resources to be devoted to development of the gameplay mechanics. This is why a majority of game protagonists didn't talk back then, it just wasn't practical. Having Link in the original Zelda talk would literally be pointless, there's memory limitations that could be put towards designing levels and enemies. You'd be wasting those precious resources for something that's not very important for the narrative. You can tell a story with the environment, bosses, NPCs, and other devices. This is how games define themselves as a medium. You can experience a world through the eyes of the characters. You don't need to talk, you don't need Mario giving a long speech to get the point across. If anything, the lack of dialogue or the lack of a need for dialogue is what makes gaming stand apart from films. More importantly, in the case of RPGs, silent protagonists allow players to become the protagonist. When I play a game where a character talks, there's a certain level of immersion broken, like a barrier between the player and the protagonist. It feels more akin to the player being a guiding force for a predefined character with their own goals, motivations, and a mind of their own. There are many great games starring protagonists who speak with likable personalities and goals that you want to see them through. I don't have a problem with these kinds of games, many of them are great and I've enjoyed them. But there's room for both approaches in gaming. When I'm playing an RPG, especially one where you can make choices, I feel like silent protagonists are best suited for this kind of environment. The main appeal of RPGs to me is that they're games where you, the player can go on an epic adventure with a character you created or at least developed yourself. In a lot of these games, you customize your own character, you name them, choose their equipment, their skills, and shape their life. RPGs are all about being the character and the character being you. If my character has a mind of his own and he says something that doesn't line up with what I would say, well that's just immersion breaking. It doesn't make for a truly great RPG. There's a certain level of disconnect between the player and the player character when they have a voice. A lot of games have silent protagonists and some of these games let you choose from a list of dialogue options. And to me, those are some of the best games that show how a silent protagonist can make for an immersive experience. A character asks you a question and you have several full sentences to choose from that will alter the course of the story. The magic of this setup is that when you choose an answer, you end up reading the sentence out loud in your mind. In a way, you're giving the protagonist a voice. Your own voice. And how can any protagonist's voice be that of yourself? How could you surpass that kind of immersion? You can't. Even in games without various dialogue options, you can often imagine what the main character would say in any particular situation using your inner voice. Video games are a special medium that combines visual storytelling with imaginative storytelling. That's what makes games unique. The fact that something like this is even possible, playing a game where you fill in the blanks with your mind. There's nothing quite like it. So that's just my take on this whole debate over protagonist of games talking. It's not something that should be criticized. There's lots of great games where the protagonist speaks, but there's so many great games starring silent protagonists and they use that silence to create immersive storytelling in a way that only video games can. So what do you think? Do you agree with me? Disagree? I'd like to hear your reasoning down in the comments. Tell me some of your favorite examples of silent protagonist while you're at it. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.