Silent main character?

[Geddoe825]

I just started playing this game for the first time through two days ago. i have just been exiled from the main island. (Razril i think) and still the main character doesnt talk...... does he ever talk throughout the whole game? (other than the dialogue choices that appear and you get to choose.) please tell me it is at least like FFX where you can name the main character, but they never say his name.... the gameplay seems different, but acceptable, the most disturbing thing thus far is the fact he doesn't talk or give any opinion what so ever... well sorry for the long post for such a simple ?question?

[Oppenheimer]

No, he doesn't talk. He's a silent protagonist. The main characters in Suikoden I and II didn't speak either but this was changed for Suikoden III. Many people think that gamers have grown out of a silent protagonist and level this as a criticism against Suikoden IV.

[Seltaeb]

no the main character will never talk. and yes you get to name him. the only reason they dont say his name is because the game is only programed to say certain things. and since you pick the name its not programed to say whatever you picked. well thats what i beleive.

[Mr. Geddoe]

What is expected from a 'silent' hero is so that we can 'colorize' him wherever we want. We can transform him to a cold soldier, cheerful bastard, to a pervert

But S4 did NOT give this opportunity. At least I can point out Legaia 2 as a good example; and no, FFX is a BAD example. Tidus HAS personality, he's not blank, it's only that they never mentioned his name.

The key is LOTSA PROMPTS. Like the one with Cray, that's good.

[DeathQuaker]

He doesn't talk, but from what I recall you _are_ given choices as to what he says in certain areas, which can help color his personality as you see fit. I generally played him as somewhat grumpy.

I think he could have used more choices--and said choices should have had more impact on the outcome--but I think that of most console RPGs.

[Sun of a Studio]

But why are you able to choose his voice then? It makes no sense to me. You're allowed to choose how his voice sounds but you never hear it.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

you hear the Voice sampler in your options menu after winning a random battle.

[Oppenheimer]

The voice choice is for battle grunts. You can have him sounding deep voiced or kid voiced or silent in battle too. Regardless of what you select the voices in the cinematic sequences never change.

[Sun of a Studio]

The voice choice is for battle grunts. You can have him sounding deep voiced or kid voiced or silent in battle too. Regardless of what you select the voices in the cinematic sequences never change.

Are you serious? That's pretty stupid. "Oh let's have voices for all the characters except the one who is of the most important. The gamers will really be able to relate to our protaganist that way!"

Either give him a voice that he actually gets to use or don't give anyone a voice. He doesn't talk that much anyway, I feel like I playing as a crash dummy or something.

[Angelis_Taleria]

The voice choice is for battle grunts. You can have him sounding deep voiced or kid voiced or silent in battle too. Regardless of what you select the voices in the cinematic sequences never change.

Are you serious? That's pretty stupid. "Oh let's have voices for all the characters except the one who is of the most important. The gamers will really be able to relate to our protaganist that way!"

Either give him a voice that he actually gets to use or don't give anyone a voice. He doesn't talk that much anyway, I feel like I playing as a crash dummy or something.

I don't see how it's any different than the silent Tenkai's of Suiko 1 and 2. Simply because a voice is added should not make it a point of criticism, unless of course you've had a problem with Tir or Riou being completely silent.

[Sun of a Studio]

I didn't have a problem then because no one had a voice. It was understandable, but now everyone has a voice, even freakin Setsu! If Setsu gets a voice then so should the main character. It's not like it would have been difficult seeing as how his lines are so miniscule already. Just get the night janitor at Konami to come in and speak into a microphone. If they can do it for every single character then they can do it for the main character. I can't relate to someone who, whenever he begins to speak, the world turns to darkness and his speech is implied but everyone knows exactly what he said and understood it. Besides, the first two Suikoden's weren't made in the year 2005. They were made in the mid-90's when giving everyone a voice would have been a little more difficult. If all the characters in Suikoden IV were silent I could understand, infact I'd enjoy it because I don't really care for characters in video games who have been given voices, but I see it like this.

There has been tv for a long time. For the beginning stages of tv, the screen was in black and white. At first the black and white was kinda dark and wasn't perfect, but years went by and the black and white got a lot better and you could really see the difference from early black and white to later black and white. Just when the black and white screen became almost perfect there came color. Early color was terrible, but it was the new thing and everyone went with it. Now color is pretty close to perfect. Now you never see a black and white character in a full color movie unless he has a point to being in black and white. A character in black and white in a color movie who has no purpose for being in black and white, would be completely unprofessional unless of course this is on Family Guy or other, "Random Humor" television shows and movies.

Keeping the main character silent when all other characters speak is a very silly and unprofessional way to go about business. Anyone could have done the character's voice and should have been done, otherwise you're sitting there at 3:00AM with a bologna sandwich wondering the point of selecting a voice for a character who only makes noise when he grunts. That's my argument.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

Well the main character in this game is mostly being used as an observer to the events in the game so far. The voice wouldn't matter much.
You can choose some of his responses but you're suppose to give the hero a personality through those choices as stated before.
Also, this is the first suikoden game with voice-overs, give it some time. Maybe the next suikoden will have a hero voice-over. But for now, just enjoy the adventure of suikoden 4!

[Sun of a Studio]

I can understand the idea of giving him a personality all his own, but it just doesn't make sense how everyone gets a voice but him. Maybe what the could work on for Suikoden V is have the main character have a voice that changes with the decisions you make. I mean, if you make the noble decisions the characters voice becomes bolder and more defined. If you make the more cowardly choices, his voice could be a little wavery, and smaller. This way you could definitly mold him through decisions. Of course his voice could also not be bold or wavery, it could be completely different. More evil choices like, "Chop of the traitors head!" will guide the character towards a more demonic, devilish voice. It could really work I think. It's just an idea, a very rough idea, but a good one I think.

[Nalkul]

The silent protagonist always annoyed me because they looked up to him as some type of leadership figure, when all he ever did was...be..quiet. Oh, and announce randomely that he was ready to go to war

[Moonbay]

What got me was--he was a silent character--yet his mouth was moving a LOT in the opening movie...LOL

But--the silent protagonist never bothered me in Suikoden.

It just seems...right...somehow--you know?