I have no problem with it. My imagination is plenty capable of supplying a voice for a silent protagonist. What do you people do when you read books?

Disagree with you, OP. I think it depends on the game. A lot of games - especially those focused on environmental storytelling rather than reams of dialogue - are better with a silent protagonist imo.

I've beaten it a number of times, maybe a dozen?  One of my all time favorite games.  There is a bit of story in the beginning (with brief talking), and Wander calls for Aguro (much like Link whistling for Epona).  Outside the introduction, Wander says next to nothing.  He is mostly silent, as in for 95% of the game.  IMHO, he fits the silent propagandist quite well.  

Fair enough.  I view it as a gray area.  Having 4 lines isn't exactly talkative in my book.  Either way, SotC is an amazing experience.  

Surely you get that some people like it and it's easier on the game devs, but I too prefer voiced protags especially if every other character in the game is gonna talk. It's not a deal breaker for me though, story is rarely ever a reason I get a game.

A silent character does not mean an uninteresting or boring character. Doomguy in Doom 2016 is silent and yet has tons of characterization. Silent characters have their place.

Dragon Quest XI was silent as well, no?

I strongly disagree. Silent protagonists gives much more freedom to me to truly develop the character I'm playing as. In Legend of Zelda Link being silent makes sense because he's designed to be more of an avatar than a completely premade character that you're merely taking control of. I personally think Breath of the Wild in particular fits well with the silent protagonist approach with its non-linear design and a main character that in many ways is a blank slate.

As for Xenoblade X I really liked that they let you create your own character and it would've been difficult to give you that much freedom over your main character had that character not been silent. My problem with that game was that there seemed to be a conflict between character-driven and story-driven design. The main story should've been less linear and more flexible to fit with the open-world exploration approach. For example it killed the immersion for me when the story acted like it was my first encounter with certain locations or creatures when I had already discovered those. Instead it should've been something like: explore -> discover new location/species -> open up new story branch.

Despite its flaws I still loved X and I hope they make another one with even more focus on roleplaying, exploration, interaction with the world and dynamic storytelling.

Maybe it's because I'm not used to them, but I really don't like talking protagonists. They're just akward and don't really make sense to me. I control everything they do, so why would they suddenly say stuff out of their own?

Also, more talking means more story, and the less story the better.

I would say in general, I prefer established characters over blank slates, but its not a deal breaker by any means. How I feel about it really depends on how heavy the game goes with sim/avatar type features...if I'm expected to really live through the character than I'd prefer the character doesn't have a voice that sounds too foreign, or it ruins my immersion. But if there aren't avatar features or the story is mostly linear, than a silent character can potentially hurt the overall experience, especially when everyone else around him is fleshed out and communicating normally.

That being said, overall I wouldn't say it hurts or helps the experience, just really depends what the game is going for. Tales of Xillia 2 is a great example of a well characterized silent avatar for example, for a character that doesn't talk he gets more character development than many established MCs.