I mean in BOTW he does talk as shown by you being able to have him speak and react to NPCs, just no voiced lines.
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Mute Link Needs to Go
- Thread starter Deleted member 19844
- Start date
I mean in BOTW he does talk as shown by you being able to have him speak and react to NPCs, just no voiced lines.
OP
OP
I have grown tired of silent protagonists... breaks the immersion when everyone is talking except the character you are playing as. Although in Zelda it is barely noticeable since even BotW story is pretty nonexistent.
Link can stay mute but it doesn't make sense for BotW 2.
Him being mute because of pressure doesn't make sense anymore.
Him being mute because of pressure doesn't make sense anymore.
OP
OP
Oh yeah - totally still the silent type - just not a void of nothingness in voice acted cut scenes. :-)
He's not mute in-canon. He talks in comics and whenever you initiate a conversation it's implied that he's replying back to them. In games like BotW you get to determine the reply.
Chell is mute in-canon, if GLaDOS calling her a 'dangerous, mute lunatic' is any indication
Chell is mute in-canon, if GLaDOS calling her a 'dangerous, mute lunatic' is any indication
Link should stay mute. It's not an obstacle to storytelling (see, e.g., Majora's Mask and Wind Waker or, further afield, Chrono Trigger), and the absolute last thing the series needs is more dialogue.
Twilight Princess Link had more emotions/reactions than BotW Link in cutscenes most of the times. Zelda team needs to fix that.
I don't understand this mentality at all. Link being mute is not what's wrong with some of the cut scenes in BotW, it's poor scene direction, mediocre writing and a failure to utilize quality facial animations and expressions for him which paled in comparison to TP, let alone WW.
Him being mute is pretty beneficial and key to the story telling in the series. It keeps the story and events focused on the adventure and not some internal personal drama within Link. Him talking would add nothing to the series but baggage and dead weight.
How on earth people think Link talking with the average at best dialogue writing and voice acting would be a good thing is beyond me.
Him being mute is pretty beneficial and key to the story telling in the series. It keeps the story and events focused on the adventure and not some internal personal drama within Link. Him talking would add nothing to the series but baggage and dead weight.
How on earth people think Link talking with the average at best dialogue writing and voice acting would be a good thing is beyond me.
huh, i think it fits.
tp link is just a farm boy who loves the people of his town.
botw link is the son of the royal guard captain and chosen one of the master sword.
even before being chosen by the sword, people expected a lot from him.
More heroes need to stay mute, in my opinion.
Dead Space 2 is a good representation of what happens if you give a formerly mute character a voice. It feels weird and awkward.
The dialogues would feel way too different if the main character is suddenly voiced. Just let Link stay more forever.
Dead Space 2 is a good representation of what happens if you give a formerly mute character a voice. It feels weird and awkward.
The dialogues would feel way too different if the main character is suddenly voiced. Just let Link stay more forever.
OP
OP
You're overstating the benefit of it and understating the problem of voice acted characters interacting with a mute mannequin.You're spot on that he needs to be more expressive, but even "silent type" characters have some minor responses. I'm not saying he needs to give a monologue, but either give him some voice acted responses, or make all the characters text only.
Edit: OR make him officially, literally mute. :-)
It's super dumb watching a cutscene with a talking emotive secondary character and the protagonist saying nothing to anybody ever. Truly bizarre. Who would want to be friends with this person?
If you design the game and characters around the fact he doesn't talk, then that's fine, but that's not at all the case.
If you design the game and characters around the fact he doesn't talk, then that's fine, but that's not at all the case.
OP
OP
Yup - and for me that really worked because everyone was text-only. :-)
Mute link is actively a detriment to having the player character involved in cutscenes. So yes, it needs to go.
Either everyone talks or nobody talks. Dialogue scenes where other characters talk to the player, the player says NOTHING, and the other characters respond like this is a totally normal thing are awful. Silent protagonists are done. Don't need'em any more.
He's not mute in BOTW its documented in the game. Pretty much one of the reasons why everyone wants him in the game too. Stupid Sexy Link.
This is where I'm at. If you're gonna have a character not audibly speak (which I am totally okay with), you gotta direct your cutscenes around it.
Not really. It's pretty much all down to bad scene direction. An expressive Link provides all the communication that's needed in most situations and the series really shouldn't rely heavily on cutscenes in the first place, least of all long and wordy ones. Voiced dialogue should have been a boon for BotW as text based cutscenes are a slog that drag scenes out due to the slow speed and constant interruptions of text, which was a real detriment at times to the story heavy entries like SS and TP, but they screwed it up and went too far with their use of it in BotW. The cutscenes in BotW were oddly placed in the game as just flash backs, often too long and wordy. That the scenes predominantly featured Link and Zelda interacting one on one didn't help either. Most scenes were just Zelda talking to him with no real action or events happening. That's bad scene direction. BotW was an amazing game that did a whole lot right, but they really got the story telling and use of cutscenes wrong and it's really not because Link doesn't talk.
What's needed, imo, is to look back on previous games and see what worked for the cutscenes, how dialogue was handled around a mute character. But even then, you don't even have to look at past Zelda titles, you can look at stuff like Cross Code or Iconoclasts in how dialogue and scenes are handled around a mute protagonist.
Link can be mute, and I'd even prefer it. But it's as you say, the directions and how they handle dialogue, character expression and body language is lacking.
I think it's been too long for him to get a voice now. It's been built up for too long and whatever voice actor they choose will piss everyone off because everyone will have a different idea of how Link should sound. They'd alienate everyone.
I really liked how BotW handled Link and I never felt any of the cutscenes were awkward because he was silent. He emotes plenty.
I like characters that are sometimes just quiet. Sometimes you don't have anything to say. Sometimes you just want to listen. Link is a bit of that, with a dash of playfulness. And he's also pretty awkward! As a character, he is an avatar that provides comfort and strength. He does not need to interject.
I find his silence touching at times, too. See: Marin reacting to Link's silence in Link's Awakening.
I also hate the idea that the protagonist needs to be voiced in order for players to immerse themselves.
Lastly, Zelda games are not supposed to be epic dramas. The stories are written with Link not speaking in mind. You don't need to know what he wants to say.
I like characters that are sometimes just quiet. Sometimes you don't have anything to say. Sometimes you just want to listen. Link is a bit of that, with a dash of playfulness. And he's also pretty awkward! As a character, he is an avatar that provides comfort and strength. He does not need to interject.
I find his silence touching at times, too. See: Marin reacting to Link's silence in Link's Awakening.
I also hate the idea that the protagonist needs to be voiced in order for players to immerse themselves.
Lastly, Zelda games are not supposed to be epic dramas. The stories are written with Link not speaking in mind. You don't need to know what he wants to say.
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what can mute Link possibly say with visual cures that can't be said with both visual and vocal cues, like they player is obviously supposed to assume he's doing anyway? If not that they should commit to making him legitimately mute.
The greater problem is that no matter what Link sounds like, any voice would be jarring.
The story in BOTW is extremely minimal by design. There are some good character moments with the champions, but it's not a significant part of that game. There's no ambition for it to be a significant part of the game. This is just a bad idea.
The story in BOTW is extremely minimal by design. There are some good character moments with the champions, but it's not a significant part of that game. There's no ambition for it to be a significant part of the game. This is just a bad idea.
I'm on my phone at work so this will be short but he needs to stay mute. Why is he androgynous? Why is his design such that most people can see themselves in him? Because Link isn't his own character. You are Link, this is your adventure. BotW especially underlines this line of thinking.
