[vidya] It's question time! Whenever it comes to video games, do you prefer having a silent protag to shape a character or an established protag with a voice/personality/background?
For me? It depends on if there's a "dating" or "implied draw" to the main character. If it's something like pokemon I don't mind there being a silent protag that's customizable. Otherwise I tend to end up detesting the self-insert. Even if it's supposed to be the "me" character, even if I'm supposed to project I don't like it.
established protag! because the details add more flavor to the story, which makes it easier to get into. but really, self-inserts are fine too as long as you give me an established background. the more fleshed out it is, the better.
OH yeah... That's what I was leaning more toward for silent protags with them having a background and dialogue choices, but I guess it's a broad statement
But interesting... I saw a game where people were complaining about the established protag freaking out about having magical powers and responds were like "wow this is cringe" and "I wouldn't react like that!" or "They should've been silent!!"
Well, of course they do. They wouldn't be so prevalent if it wasn't popular. I mean just look at how many people want to play those kind of protags in RP. But I find that the other characters in such games sometimes become weird or warped to make that kind of thing fit or please the player because they know they're catering to That Type of Crowd
I gotta go with established protag. There are some cases where a silent protag will still be characterized (see botw link as an example of this) but ultimately I just dont like self-inserts most of the time
Byleth is kind of a weird case where I very much like the character as a concept, and appreciate that they're silent, over say... y'know, Corrin from Fates. But Three Houses needed to do better having characters react more properly to this weird, unnaturally stoic, quiet person and better illustrate Byleth's own growth over time.
Byleth's concept is fuckin' solid, but the execution needed some work on that one. Joker from P5 is a much better example of this thing done reasonably well.
Byleth is... a special case for me. I think it's neat that there's a canon thing where they're clearly emotionally stunted, but as said above, the execution was less than stellar
And there are times I just like a silent protagonist more because it does tend to require a little more literary analysis to get to the heart of who they are.
Unless it's Doomguy, where the answer is kill more demons
Yeah, but that's my point. Is that it's all too easy to fall in that pit of failing in execution. It's much rarer, in my experience, to nail the landing with that kind of set up.
But nothing for me is a death knell for a narrative than a protagonist that I find insufferable, even if insufferability is supposed to be part of the point
it's definitely a "both, but it depends on how the game is structured." is it a single player jrpg? i like having a protag with an established personality/background and isn't mostly a blank slate. is it like Dragon Age or an mmo? i like malleable protags.
Though I suppose for my money, I find a bad silent protagonist less offensive than a bad "established" protagonist. They each do things the other can't do, narratively, but I'd rather my protagonist keep their mouth shut and let me do the narrative analysis if the alternative is an established character I manage to find irritating.
Meanwhile I'm the opposite. I'll tolerate a couple chapters of cringe if you give me a solid development and storyline. Especially if your supporting cast makes up for the irritation or mitigates it in some way. I'd take 3 Lukes over 1 Byleth. That's just how much I hate seeing other characters twist into pretzels for a silent protag
Like Luke from Abyss is def. that example where he's a very polarizing protag but he's popular enough that people are still talking about him... He def. made a big impact where he's usually in the Top 10 for popularity polls
on the topic of fire emblem I think they handle Alear pretty well in regards to having an established protag... sure the plot is cheesy but yknow what its fine
Like Nasu had even written a side story where Ritsuka met a war veteran that shaped his/hers way of life which fits the whole T-M protag trope where they met someone that changed their worldview
One the other hand they also do the thing where they change some of the myths of the characters to better make them pure waifu for the players. Like... nuking previous husbands or lovers.
what sucks though is that when they DO keep established husbands/lovers and such you'll get neckbeards and shit who'll complain about that—see: tomoe gozen
but it really does just usually come down to the fact that self-inserts are easier and have less of a risk really... since when it comes to self-inserts, the most you can actually complain about are the fact that they're self-inserts
though as a result its actually now pretty common to see self-insert protags who are clearly written with their own non-self-insert character traits but just stop there
there's some work gone into them but then the player is just left to fill in the rest themselves which... lets face it, it hasn't actually really failed yet
I can think of a good few silent protags that fall under this category and im actually pretty sure at this point that that kind of protagonist is the majority when it comes to silent protagonists nowadays
Like SMT/Persona protags fall into that realm where they def. personality traits from their dialogue choices and actions but the game doesn't always allow you to go deep into their POV
there's a small percentage of character that's there but for better or worse it's up to the player to then fill in the rest of that percentage... and its a formula that actually works too because, gestures at fanfic and rp
But it's usually another character that turns to protag and goes "X dies... Man, you look so torn up about it" and I'm like "no actually I thought I thought that was hilarious... Don't tell me how to feel!!"
"Oh my god, X died... the protagonist is so torn up about it" "Actually I never really liked that character that much so I'm not exactly—" "YOU'RE DEPRESSED NOW" "O-Okay"
LMFAO yeah they did that in genshin where the MC was like "If you keep using X you'll die" and the npc was like "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S LIKE" [keeps using X, dies] and then the game is like "you're sad now" meanwhile I'm like
I think even when it comes to the dating aspect... Sometimes, as a player, I feel that it's not so much that you want to hook up with a character and more like you want to learn about them since you think they're cool and interesting
But usually, there is a friendzone option if the game is smart or you want to see some chaos and consequences dating multiple characters (which can be funny... P5 has a really funny scene if you do that)
though even then youve gotta jump through some hoops in fgo to make a servant death emotional when we the player know that it really does not necessarily last BHLKDSAFJ
Or sometimes, they don't have that moment... They're just irredeemably evil and sexy and like to mess with the protag but they keep the plot interesting whenever they show up
Sometimes, I feel like the silent protag deal is also due to certain rules and regulations for a game to be made. Some old visual novels were made like that (i.e: Setting must always be a high school, MC must be male, first H-scene must happen 5 mins in) since that's the niches they're reaching out for
Yeah. I was introduced to fate/ via the ufotable anime and so going back to read the vn realizing there's a whole intro where Rin is the narrator and then having to switch to shirou was like.... BUT RIN WAS SUCH A GOOD NARRATOR...
honesty though its fun to notice the differences between rin and shirou as narrators... and its especially fun because we get to have insights into the way they think that you simply dont get when they arent in charge of narration
And yeah... I actually don't like how Ufotable handled Shirou since he has some 10/10 Narration snark where as Archer is just a Shirou without any fucks to give
AND YEAH... Nasu also gave his input on how Shirou should be portrayed as "a guy who never smiles due to trauma" so he also comes off as more stoic in the Ufotable version while he smiles quite a bit and has some goofy moments in the DEEN version
Unless it's Doomguy, where the answer is kill more demons
and what the fuck I dont mind a lil cheese"Actually I never really liked that character that much so I'm not exactly—"
"YOU'RE DEPRESSED NOW"
"O-Okay"
though in some cases they apparently have