Mazty said:
Scoobes said:
Mazty said:
Scoobes said:
Mazty said:
Most of the game you aren't anywhere near Alyx...
Now you are just skirting the issue that filling in the blanks isn't a legitmate excuse for characters acting as if the silent protagnist has spoken. Imagination is good for books, but not for a post-2000 FPS. You weren't filling in gaps left on purpose, you were making do with what the tech provided. Having Gordon silent was a choice made by the devs rather then something that couldn't be helped.
If I wanted to use my imagination I'd read a book. Plus with that reasoning you could argue that every game is a masterpeice by just using your imagination to conjure up the necessary scenarios required to make the game brilliant.
Now on the contrary I'd argue that SotC does a much better job with a silent protagonist partially due to the simplicity of the story, which makes it all that more believable. One guy and his horse, out to save a girl/woman for a mysterious reason. Due to the lack of others in the world, it makes sense why you are silent, plus it also fits the vast beautiful scenery very well.
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Yes it's on purpose and a design decision. Gordon Freeman is an avatar of yourself, so your imagination is simply to fill in his personality with your own. It's not a big leap in logic considering it's always kept in first person perspective. You aren't conjuring up scenarios.
As for SotC, I'm not entirely sure Wanda counts as silent. He has one companion in the game and he calls his name relatively frequently. Considering the relationship of trust between Wanda and Agro, I actually think that's fairly important in the grand scheme of the game... even if it is only one name/word, the relevance is huge.
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Bzzt. Wrong answer. You are not meant to fill Gordon with your own personality, otherwise you would have much more freedom. If you were a narcissistic power greedy lunatic you wouldn't be helping them would you? And Alyx wouldn't take a liking to you either...
Freeman isn't an avatar for yourself in the way that Commander Shepard is. It's meant to be seen that you are Freeman, a scientist saviour out to help the good folk on earth.
He also whistles for Agro...I can't see how you can fill in the gaps for non-existant conversation but say that calling for a horse somehow breaks the silent protaginist idea? If you are imaging conversation then Gordon's anything but silent...
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Lol, there's no such thing in this context. Just different methodologies and techniques to acheive immersion and storytelling. If you can't relate to the characters in front of you (in HL2) in any way, then perhaps you are a narcissistic, power greedy lunatic? 
And the point of a silent protagonist is to allow you to place your own ideas about how they sound, their personality and even imagine part of the conversation. The fact that Wanda says anything at all breaks that because you now have a point of reference for his voice. It works in Shadow of the Colossus because it actually reiterates his loneliness and the fact that Agro is the only one he has to rely on.
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Er what? If Gordon is an avatar for you then why does the game force you to do everything? Unload a mag into any resistance fighter and nothing happens...
Imagine part of the conversation?! No, that would be bordering schizophrenia. Either the conversation is there, or it isn't. Making conversations up is no better then pretending the storyline, graphics or gameplay is better then it is. "Oh the movement isn't clunky, it's obvious that the main character just hurt his foot...". "The voice acting isn't bad, they just are stoned".
You press a button to make him say something. That really doesn't break immersion as you are making him directly say something rather then say something you wouldn't. If you pressed X and he said "YO AGRO WHERE THE FUCK YOU GONE MAAAAAN?", yeah that would immersion breaking. But he doesn't.
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I was praising SotC. Calling for Agro manages to serve 2 puposes: Actually getting your horse and reiterating that your only companion in the vast desolate wasteland is your incredibly loyal stead. It's just a different method to convey emotion in the story and one that works well in SotC's implementation. I don't know if it was done on purpose, or just a fortunate side effect, but it works either way.
Anyway, let it go mate, it's obvious you just can't appreciate HL2's particular storytelling techniques, but a great deal of others do.
