So.  I've been a pretty hefty Nintendo gamer for a long time.  Zelda one on the NES was the first game I ever finished.  Through all these years, one of the biggest things we Nintendo fans have been against is hearing our beloved once-silent characters talking.  We've still never heard Link utter anything resembling language.  And Mario speaks mostly catch phrases and thanks us so much for playing his games. 

It donned on me that the same thing has often been complained about concerning Samus.  We don't want to hear her talk.  She should be silent like Link and whatnot.  And I thought, why the hell is that?  I think it's bad enough we're all too stuck in the past and far too many Nintendo fans are willing to accept any influence from modern gaming to encroach in their franchises.  It's high time we just grow up and get used to the idea that Nintendo's characters will have to grow, too.  Thankfully, it looks like Pit may very well be doing a lot of talking in his upcoming 3DS adventure since he was all talkative in the trailer.  Finally, some kind of growth. 

But why are people still against hearing Samus, of all characters, talk?

If anything, Samus is the one we should be the most comfortable with concerning audible speech.  I may be off on this, but it seems to me that she was the first Nintendo character to ever actually say anything.  All the way back on the SNES when she informed us that the last metroid was in captivity and that the galaxy was at peace.  For many of us, this was the first time we ever heard any Nintendo character talk.  And nobody complained about that!  This was before Link uttered his "hooahs" and "hurrrrs" and "hyaaahhs."  Before Mario first thanked us in speech for playing his game.  Before the StarFox team lit up the N64 with (at the time) the most recorded speech in Nintendo history. 

Granted, I'm still generally against lengthy cinematics--even as beautiful as those crafted by Team Ninja are looking--simply because I feel that story should be an interactive experience in a video game.  Not a sit-there-and-watch cinematic experience.  I didn't drop $50 or $60 to watch a B-grade movie (which is all too common in game cinematics, if not worse).  I spent that money to play a video game and to experience the story.  Cinematics pull me out of the game and flow of everything, and all to often, they're boring, pointless, over-long, or nonsensical.  Like in Tekken 6, which managed to pull off all of those issues.  Dude, for gross. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Samus talking.  I just hope the cinematics don't spend too much time interfering with the gameplay.

The problem some have is that they've felt her silence or mostly-silence (limited to inner monologues and that one-liner from Super) makes an integral part of the Metroid experience, and that may very well be the case, or not. Some fear that her talking, as well as the new focus on cinematics, could prove ruinous to the franchise as it becomes just another clone of all the other over-cinematized action games out there

The idea being that voiceover is not needed to move units, so focusing on it is a waste of time against elements that are proven to be stronger towards sales. There is a similar concern with Zelda, the idea that the game becoming more cinematic, and not less, takes it away from the franchise's glory days on the NES and SNES (though Zelda just tends to go through a cycle of relevance and Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess are at the top with the original LoZ, so its harder to state definitively)

She doesn't deliver the line "The Last Metroid Is in captivity..."

But this whole idea of giving her an identity...feelings, emotions, etc., I think may actually have a greater impact when we see her kicking so many asses and taking as many names.  We already know that she is baddass...but now we will get to see a softer, more human side to her and considering how brutal we know she (we?) can be, it'll make those actions seem that much more impressive.

I'm not convinced that it was Samus' voice at the beginning of Super Metroid.  I think it was some computer or something.  She did narrate the intro, though.  The main reason I don't want to hear Samus talk is because I don't want anything distracting me from her massive boobs.  As long as she speaks only when wearing the chozo armor (whatever it's being called, these days.......), I won't mind.

^^^The guy above actually knows what an etecoon is!  I support any statement he makes!!  And for the record, even though she didn't actually speak with a voice in Metroid Fusion, Samus wasn't a silent protagonist.  Sometimes, she wouldn't shut the hell up!!

Actually, I think this is the reason why. We've seen what "modern voicing" does to games- it gives other developers an excuse to increase cinematics and reduce gameplay immersion. As Nintendo fans, we've gotten used to the Nintendo charm; we let Nintendo's gameplay be what eats us up. Breaking up this gameplay with cinematics to show off the voices changes a key element of the Nintendo formula.

There can be other individual minor reasons also, like how without a voice, it's easier to hear yourself (or a voice of your choosing) talking, text is faster to scroll through, or even a nostalgic view of days past, when we just didn't need voices. But I think enough Nintendo fans are against voices that I really think adding a lot of talking for both Pit and Samus is a bad idea. We shall see, though...

i think its a good idea for Samus to finally have a voice. makes her more..."human" of a character. it gives her more personality.

as for somebody like Link, im still on the fence about him actually talking. i vaguely remember hearing about Miyamoto saying why Link didnt talk. he said he wanted the player to feel like they were the hero, not just playing another persons story(or something to that affect). i can understand that. but i also think it may be time to finally hear link talk and actually give him a personality beyond just being courageous......

well, theres my 2 cents...

I couldn't care less about Samus voice. However, if they are going to deliver it, I hope the text and the actress are good enough to the job. In any way, I am a little worried about Other M. The gameplay seems to be great but I am afraid the cutscenes will be a chore to watch. 

It is known as the Varia Suit (which is more well known than the starting suits before the release of Metroid Prime: Hunters).

To allow a cinematic game to flourish, narration and other forms of speech are vital. Samus is the narrator and using text will reduce focus on the cutscenes and gameplay, voice-overs allow the gamer (like me) to focus on both. The previous games were less cinematic, so text was used.

Games with silent protgonists are far from dead.  Look at Braid or Limbo for evidence of games that thrive on gameplay and connect on a personal level.  'Splosion Man fits the bill, too.  Nintendo characters like Mario, Kirby, or Donkey Kong should remain mute (for the most part), too.  But Samus?  In my opinion, she's the Nintendo character that NEEDS to talk.  As long as she spends most of the time isolated like she does in pretty much every adventure she goes on, we won't have to worry about her spouting pithy one-liners (prince of persia style) or anything.  But when she's around people, I want her to demonstrate her intelligence and personality.  So far, all she has been is a hot girl in a suit of armor.  Any one of us could create that character.  By giving her a voice, Nintendo will give her a soul.  As long as the gameplay is intact, I'm all for it.

/thread