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In the context of the story they often simply observe events happening around them, and are usually given orders by others while not having to reply in return. A common joke in video games is for a silent protagonist to have words put in their mouth (occasionally when it appears that they are finally going to say something). IN VIDEO GAMES Silent protagonists are prevalent in Video Games . This practice began because of technological limitations and simplistic storylines that did not require any dialogue. As technology improved video games moved more and more away from this trend. However, in the early 90's, the silent protagonist became a bit of a trend in the RPG genre, and many of the most successful games of that era featured non-speaking heroes as their lead. While most games have abandoned the idea of the silent protagonist for added realism, several series such as '' The Legend Of Zelda '' and '' Breath Of Fire '' have continued the tradition. The common counterpoint to the added "realism" of a speaking protagonist is that a non-speaking hero would allow the player to provide their own voice for the character, and thus a deeper immersion in the plot. Perhaps one of the more famous silent protagonists in the '90s RPG genre is Crono of '' Chrono Trigger ''. In some games, especially those geared toward older players, silent protagonists are used as an In-joke as a reference to the old stereotype. In '' Ultima VII '', a play about the Avatar 's adventures is being rehearsed, with the lead actor explaining that most of his lines consist of the dialogue system keywords "name", "job" and "bye". In the '' Half-Life '' series, there are several occasions when characters in the game make jokes about the protagonist Gordon Freeman 's silence. "Man of few words, aren't you?", says Alyx Vance not long after meeting the player. Notable games that feature silent heroes include:
AS STORYTELLING DEVICES Silent protagonists allow the player to create their own interpretation of a game character. By not being prompted by scripted character dialog, the nature of that character and what they say is left up to the imagination of the player. This is in contrast to games such as '' Duke Nukem 3D '', where the protagonist frequently interjects comments into play, and leaves the player in little doubt as to the nature of that character. This device is fairly close in principle to that of the "masking effect" mentioned in Scott McCloud 's book '' Understanding Comics '' - while the masking effect makes things such as facial features and body types in comic book and animated characters as generic as possible in order to allow for easier identification with protagonists, removing the notion of "otherness" from them, the silent protagonist is generic enough so that the player (usually silent himself while playing) feels no clash of Personality or opinions during the game, or at least minimizes such a shock. TECHNICALITIES Although the silent protagonist doesn't have lines of text on screen, the player can still infer what the character is saying. When the character is answering questions directed at them, the prompt may sometimes give two responses that go beyond "yes" and "no". For example: :"What should we do?"
Occasionally, it is inferred that the silent protagonist is actually verbally communicating with other characters, despite the player's lack of seeing (or hearing) this dialogue. This can be inferred when characters around the silent protagonist echo back statements or questions that are assumed to have come from the protagonist. Continuing the example, "What do you mean, sneaking around like cowards!?" Often, the second in the party (the silent protagonist is usually the first in the party) will ask questions on behalf of the silent protagonist, as Rui does in '' Pokémon Colosseum '', or introduce him or her to NPCs (usually after all the others introduce themselves), as with ''Golden Sun'''s Geret (original ''Golden Sun'') and Jenna (''Golden Sun: The Lost Age''). The '' Ultima '' games take a different turn: The player is allowed to pick the keywords (the most famous being "name", "job", and "bye"), which become available as the player follows the dialogue. this allows quite complicated dialogue, even when the player has to use his or her imagination to guess what the protagonist is actually saying. SEE ALSO |
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