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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Will Xenoblade Chronicles X have a silent protagonist?

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Nuvendil on 30 January 2015

Well since you customize this guy, I don't care either way. Dragon Age Origin you were silent but it didn't matter, the supporting cast was who you related to. Same with Chrono Trigger. With created characters and deliberate avatars (Link, Cronk) it feels normal since they aren't full blown characters but a means for you to experience the story. Now if you give me a full blown character and have him/her silent, I find that extremely annoying. See Samus in the Prime trilogy; she went from being a well developed character from previous games (and Fusion and which came out at the same bloody time) to being a pair of mechanical trousers. That was lame, especially in the first two which were text based anyway.  They couldn't even be bothered to give her any freaking text?!



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curl-6 on 30 January 2015
Nuvendil said:

Now if you give me a full blown character and have him/her silent, I find that extremely annoying. See Samus in the Prime trilogy; she went from being a well developed character from previous games (and Fusion and which came out at the same bloody time) to being a pair of mechanical trousers. That was lame, especially in the first two which were text based anyway.  They couldn't even be bothered to give her any freaking text?!

The point of Samus's silence in the Prime trilogy was the same as the behind-the-visor perspective; to fully immerse the player. You are Samus, so if she spoke for you, the effect would be ruined.



Jumpin on 30 January 2015
Vodacixi said:
spemanig said:

Nope.

"– Some famous voices actors providing their voice as options for the avatar, will be announced on the Xenoblade homepage later."

http://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-x-details-world-size-battle-system-gamepad-usage-and-more/

That could just be the things the character says during gameplay. You know, the techniques names, the sounds he makes while jumping...

I don't think the protagonist will actually talk during cutscenes. He will be silent.


Why would they advertise famous voice actors for that? Seems a little strange.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

curl-6 on 30 January 2015

It's hard to tell either way; allegedly famous actors suggest proper VA, yet the muteness in every cutscene we've seen so far is very conspicuous.



bigtakilla on 30 January 2015

Judging by the video there will be battle conversation, but I think that will be the extent as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNOVjqlwBRs



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Nuvendil on 31 January 2015
curl-6 said:
Nuvendil said:

Now if you give me a full blown character and have him/her silent, I find that extremely annoying. See Samus in the Prime trilogy; she went from being a well developed character from previous games (and Fusion and which came out at the same bloody time) to being a pair of mechanical trousers. That was lame, especially in the first two which were text based anyway.  They couldn't even be bothered to give her any freaking text?!

The point of Samus's silence in the Prime trilogy was the same as the behind-the-visor perspective; to fully immerse the player. You are Samus, so if she spoke for you, the effect would be ruined.

That may be the reason, but I don't buy it.  The cutscenes are third person so the behind the visor perspective doesn't fly as a good reason.  And we are playing as Samus, a character with a personality, not some new person who we don't know and can put ourselves into their shoes. 



curl-6 on 01 February 2015
Nuvendil said:
curl-6 said:
Nuvendil said:

Now if you give me a full blown character and have him/her silent, I find that extremely annoying. See Samus in the Prime trilogy; she went from being a well developed character from previous games (and Fusion and which came out at the same bloody time) to being a pair of mechanical trousers. That was lame, especially in the first two which were text based anyway.  They couldn't even be bothered to give her any freaking text?!

The point of Samus's silence in the Prime trilogy was the same as the behind-the-visor perspective; to fully immerse the player. You are Samus, so if she spoke for you, the effect would be ruined.

That may be the reason, but I don't buy it.  The cutscenes are third person so the behind the visor perspective doesn't fly as a good reason.  And we are playing as Samus, a character with a personality, not some new person who we don't know and can put ourselves into their shoes. 

Samus's personality was never really established up to that point; she was effectively a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto. We knew she was a feared bounty hunter, but not much more than that. And that was a good thing, because once they did give her a voice and personality in Other M, they turned her into a mopey wet blanket with daddy issues, somebody I didn't WANT to play as.



Nuvendil on 01 February 2015
curl-6 said:
Nuvendil said:
curl-6 said:
Nuvendil said:

Now if you give me a full blown character and have him/her silent, I find that extremely annoying. See Samus in the Prime trilogy; she went from being a well developed character from previous games (and Fusion and which came out at the same bloody time) to being a pair of mechanical trousers. That was lame, especially in the first two which were text based anyway.  They couldn't even be bothered to give her any freaking text?!

The point of Samus's silence in the Prime trilogy was the same as the behind-the-visor perspective; to fully immerse the player. You are Samus, so if she spoke for you, the effect would be ruined.

That may be the reason, but I don't buy it.  The cutscenes are third person so the behind the visor perspective doesn't fly as a good reason.  And we are playing as Samus, a character with a personality, not some new person who we don't know and can put ourselves into their shoes. 

Samus's personality was never really established up to that point; she was effectively a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto. We knew she was a feared bounty hunter, but not much more than that. And that was a good thing, because once they did give her a voice and personality in Other M, they turned her into a mopey wet blanket with daddy issues, somebody I didn't WANT to play as.

Bad writing is not a reason to reject the idea of characters getting development.  Other M is a case of bad game development, period, end of story.  It is not by any means a demonstration of the disadvantages of voice acting.  If they had not given the writing over to an incompetent, then it would have been fine. 

 

ANd Samus had been talking since at least Super Metroid, if not earlier, and she was talking in Fusion when Prime was released.  She had a personality and had been established as a speaking character.  Making her mute was unwise.  Especially when Retro clearly had the comepetence enough in writing to give her some flavor text at least.



Zackasaurus-rex on 01 February 2015

I hope not, since that is inherently flawed design (unless the MC is mute in canon, like in Portal).

But I suspect that this huge flaw is going to be present in the game and that we'll have to suffer it. I do not think this will replace Xenoblade Chronicles in my heart, even if some things are better.



http://voteforbernie.org

curl-6 on 01 February 2015
Nuvendil said:
curl-6 said:

Samus's personality was never really established up to that point; she was effectively a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto. We knew she was a feared bounty hunter, but not much more than that. And that was a good thing, because once they did give her a voice and personality in Other M, they turned her into a mopey wet blanket with daddy issues, somebody I didn't WANT to play as.

Bad writing is not a reason to reject the idea of characters getting development.  Other M is a case of bad game development, period, end of story.  It is not by any means a demonstration of the disadvantages of voice acting.  If they had not given the writing over to an incompetent, then it would have been fine. 

ANd Samus had been talking since at least Super Metroid, if not earlier, and she was talking in Fusion when Prime was released.  She had a personality and had been established as a speaking character.  Making her mute was unwise.  Especially when Retro clearly had the comepetence enough in writing to give her some flavor text at least.

Fusion came out at the same time as Prime, so that is not pre-established characterization. And she may have had a brief 16-bit speech in Super Metroid, but virtually nothing of her persona was revealed.

Having Samus talk would have ruined the atmosphere of solitary confinement and immersion that is the greatest strength of Prime. No matter how good it was, voice acting would only have detracted from the experience, while adding nothing.