Would you like to see the protagonist talk?

Started by Azureth October 21st, 2012 11:49 AM
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Would you like to see the protagonist talk?

Age 37
Male
Oklahoma
Seen August 27th, 2022
Posted May 4th, 2019
215 posts
12.7 Years
Would you like to see the protagonist speak in the new Poke games? Or do you think it would take away from the game?

I personally think it could work well so long as the story and dialogue is good and they don't mess it up.
Female
Seen April 18th, 2022
Posted April 18th, 2022
532 posts
12.6 Years
I don't really mind. I do enjoy how not having it makes me think of the responses my character is saying in my own voice.
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Male
Skyloft
Seen 6 Days Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
2,583 posts
12.8 Years
Pretty indifferent about this. And really, when you look at it, series with silent protagonists tend to do pretty well, wondering why that is. Pokemon, The Legend of Zelda, Jak and Daxter (at least for the first game), and several others have gotten pretty popular. So really, I think it'd ruin the sense of the games a bit, since you're supposed to be the protagonist after all, the choices are all yours, and I'm guessing that's kinda what they're aiming at here. I just don't think pre-scripted dialogue for your very own trainer kinda fits into it all, but yeah, that's just my opinion.
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LividZephyr

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Male
Wisconsin, USA
Seen September 21st, 2017
Posted May 10th, 2015
445 posts
10.6 Years
The silent protagonist of the Pokemon series was specifically designed to be an avatar of the player, for them to name themselves and journey as themselves; this is eventually why they added the feminine option, so girl players could do likewise and not have a masculine character. Thus, based on this conclusion, having the protagonist speak would be a change too dramatic to be considered; it would remove the self-reflection of the game, the feeling that it is YOU who is doing that.

Having the protagonist talk wouldn't affect anything else, really, since the character development is how the Pokemon grow - it's different from a traditional JRPG - and for what? To develop a story that's already pretty basic, to add a central, already-named character that completely makes the franchise go against itself? How would that make sense?

In a word, the only answer is no.
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Pechachu

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Female
Buttsville
Seen September 18th, 2016
Posted April 9th, 2013
255 posts
14.8 Years
Having the protagonist talk would completely pull me out of the immersive world. I've played terrible, awful games where the main character was supposed to be my avatar, and they also talked. For example, Digimon World DS: the character dialogue makes me want to cringe every time. "Say it isn't so!"

Pokemon could easily descend into awkward translations and bad jokes if you allowed the main character to talk. It takes away the personal attachment to the character too... I mean, sure, I can get attached to characters with back stories and personalities, but when these are supposed to be my Pokemon, and my decisions, it'd feel pretty impersonal when you take that away.
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Rivvon

Age 30
Female
USA
Seen 1 Day Ago
Posted January 30th, 2023
2,770 posts
16.1 Years
Definitely going to say no to this one. It's acceptable in other games but not for the main-series Pokemon games. In other video games you aren't the player character, but rather playing as them; in Pokemon, you are the protagonist. Forcing you into a backstory would damage that heavily. The only reason why it was acceptable in PokeStar Studios for the protagonist to speak was because they were reading off a script.


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gucci

Male
United Kingdom
Seen September 26th, 2021
Posted August 7th, 2019
21,056 posts
15.4 Years
I would but since they haven't done this for 16 years now I don't think it would seem right.
Seen September 18th, 2020
Posted February 18th, 2018
7,741 posts
16.6 Years
Not at all. This isn't a sentiment I hold specific to Pocket Monsters either. I've seen it put it quite succinctly as the problem of 'I only have three lines and none of them is what I want to say' and it's a problem endemic to role-playing video games. And at the end of it the story is still the same anyway, more or less. If gameplay-based games' stories could branch like visual novels do, that would be quite exceptional; in any case I don't think Pokemon will be or should be that exception.

Oh and if this is just about straight-up fixed dialogue, that's plain worse; I would like to think that video games with the gall to call themselves RPGs are now beyond that.

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Female
Seen August 7th, 2013
Posted August 8th, 2003
273 posts
10.7 Years
I would only tolerate this if the main protagonist had witty things to say. Like smart-ass comebacks or something.

Don't mind me, I'm just a witty person like that. XD
Age 33
Female
UK
Seen January 29th, 2013
Posted January 26th, 2013
458 posts
12.9 Years
Definitely going to say no to this one. It's acceptable in other games but not for the main-series Pokemon games. In other video games you aren't the player character, but rather playing as them; in Pokemon, you are the protagonist. Forcing you into a backstory would damage that heavily. The only reason why it was acceptable in PokeStar Studios for the protagonist to speak was because they were reading off a script.
This, pretty much. I like to sort of add my own stories and feelings into it, like imagining how I'd react to things happening, instead of having it scripted into the game for me.
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Treecko

the princess without voice

Age 31
He/Him
St.Louis,Missouri
Seen November 30th, 2021
Posted November 29th, 2021
6,311 posts
11.2 Years
No. I'm perfectly comfortable with the protagonist not talking because he/she isn't supposed to. It's you who are playing and it's a personal avatar you name. I like to add in my own dialogue for the player sometimes and if the protagonist would actually talked, that would take out personality of the thing.
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Seen May 28th, 2016
Posted February 25th, 2016
2,901 posts
10.6 Years
I don't think the idea of the protagonist talking in the games is a good idea. First of all, it'll be a HUGE change from all those years of the protagonist Not talking throughout all these years. Such a change would be quite hard to adapt to and might make game play not as personalised and as real. Well, it IS You who are playing, not another character, so they should let you have your own personal 'dialogue' with the other characters in the game. :)

In my opinion, if they insert talking protagonists, I can foretell a huge decline in sales (correct me if I'm wrong). Game Freak wouldn't like that now, would they?

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
It would be good to see the protagonist actually talk in certain points of the game, a la Mystery Dungeon, or at least possibly see their thoughts. But I think GameFreak made them silent on purpose to leave it up to the player's imagination on what they'd say.

Age 30
Male
Seen February 7th, 2017
Posted December 26th, 2016
585 posts
10.8 Years
I would only tolerate this if the main protagonist had witty things to say. Like smart-ass comebacks or something.

Don't mind me, I'm just a witty person like that. XD
I agree with this xD Sure, the silent protagonist is basically a "tradition" for Pokemon games, and people here have listed a lot of good reasons why. But a small change like the protagonist speaking from time to time (nothing important) wouldn't bother me at all, so I voted yes.

Tyrantrum

Age 29
Male
Seen May 18th, 2021
Posted June 13th, 2020
5,812 posts
15.6 Years
Personally, I wouldn't mind so much! It'd be interesting to see what the protagonist would have to say. If it were to ever happen, though, I think it would be better to make it a spin-off game, since I don't think people would like the protagonist talking in the main series games. Either way, it wouldn't bother me!

mikey

Age 30
Male
Seen 18 Hours Ago
Posted 4 Days Ago
6,227 posts
14.1 Years
Nah, I just think after the games being the way they have been for 10+ years, it would be weird. I mean, I guess I would get used to it eventually, but I kinda like how the characters dont talk. I'd rather that than them have a voice I can't stand. It would ruin the character for me.

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Age 26
Male
Manehattan, Equestria
Seen May 4th, 2014
Posted May 4th, 2014
991 posts
14.2 Years
Not really, see I enjoy speaking to the NPC's in my own voice, I sometimes even make sarcastic comments.

Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?

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Hikamaru

Age 30
Female
Australia
Seen January 24th, 2019
Posted September 4th, 2018
50,214 posts
12.2 Years
I would not like this, cos it could hurt sales bad and Game Freak want the player to imagine themselves a lot like they are a real Trainer.

The Pokestar Studios films is an exception though, since they are movies.
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