I've never disliked a silent protagonist. I can't say the same for verbal protagonists (Way to ruin Sonic the Hedgehog)
When a lot of people play a game, they see the hero as themselves, which is a lot easier to do when they don't have a personality attached. As awesome as Nathan Drake was, his personality made me feel more like I was watching than I was involved. Silent protagonists may cause problems with narrative, but narrative isn't really what most people look for in a videogame.
"Now, a fun game should always be easy to understand - you should be able to take one look at it and know what you have to do straight away. It should be so well constructed that you can tell at a glance what your goal is and, even if you don’t succeed, you’ll blame yourself rather than the game. Moreover, the people standing around watching the game have also got to be able to enjoy it." - Shiggy
