Why Dishonored Had To Fix Its Protagonist | Stealth Game Narratives - General

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yX6bb7uVNw

I agree with the video, but god damn was it needlessly long. I feel like it could be summed up in a fraction of the time this video essay takes. Not to mention that the argument is kind of null because the developers certainly seemed to agree with the sentiment and rectified it with Dishonored 2 (for the most part). Only because it's somewhat relevant, I would add that, in general, as games are developing richer worlds and exploring moral choice and reflecting on character's decisions; there should probably be less silent protagonists. It's not that big of a problem in a game like Call of Duty, for instance, but in games like Dishonored, RAGE, or Far Cry (because Far Cry 5's silent protagonist created a terrible dissonance with the narrative and characters) as well as many others, it becomes distracting and the silence becomes deafening. Depending on the context of course.

This is Stealth Docs longest video by 20 minutes. Previously he's done videos on stealth game concepts, particular series, or on 1998 being the year with the most stealth games at once. This time he didn't have the content to fill out the whole video, made worse by the extreme length. I agree that silent protagonists are worse in more fleshed out worlds, I always see people say that silent protagonists are more immersive but nothing ruins my immersion more than a plot point that wouldn't exist if the main character would just talk. Even a middle ground like Halo where the character talks in cutscenes but lets an AI buddy do the talking during gameplay would be better.

I feel it really depends on the game. Like I feel a game where link or mario talk normally, would be incredibly jarring, if not more distracting. I think also it has a little bit more to do with how the creators inject the player into world. Games like dishonored, your character already has a pre-defined name, backstory, and goal. It doesn't make sense for him to not talk. Compared to Halo, where master chief isn't really a well known entity. Doesn't really have a name, or a well defined backstory (at least in the games) This makes him much more of a player agent, as players can come up with theories or ideas and basically customize him to their liking. Not speaking a whole lot gives him more of that appeal as a player agent.

In Halo they gave you an ever present AI partner in the form of Cortana specifically so they could have a character to do all the talking necessary to not make the game feel off. She is as much the main character as the Chief as she does all the communication the main character would do during gameplay. The levels without her, notably, are either very silent as there's no one to speak to or the Chief gets led along by 343 Guilty Spark into activating Halo specifically because he never stops to ask questions. In Halo the Chief's silence is used both to immerse players but also as a character trait, and a flaw. It's only once Cortana gets back with the Chief that the knowledge of what Halo is and that it shouldn't be used are revealed. I would say Halo is a terrible argument for silent protagonists because unlike every other game Halo uses the protagonists silence as an actual, meaningful plot point, rather than a silly joke (as in Half Life) or not even mentioned (as in everything else).

Prey has a unique take on this issue. I've not watched the video since people said it's too slow to watch, so I don't know if it covers Prey. In Prey, your character itself doesn't speak, but you see expositional videos of you-from-the-past talking throughout the game on various digital displays. Additionally, your past self built a robot that accompanies you via radio throughout the game.

It feels very misleading considering he doesn’t even bring up Dishonored 2 at all, which addresses all of his problems with Corvo.

Dishonored 2 was, very explicitly, not the focus of his video. He was purely discussing the first Dishonored and its DLC. Where they did, in fact, replace Corvo. With Daud.

He probably should have addressed it nonetheless, since, again, Dishonored 2 fixed its protagonist problems. All he had to do was acknowledge Arkane learned from their mistakes here. Which still doesn’t change the fact that this video is like a half hour too long and bloated as hell.

Judging from the way he ends the video, I think he disagrees that Dishonored 2 fixed Corvo.

I actually like silent protagonists because it allows me to react to situations and characters in my own way. It was one of the reasons why I didn't connect with Dishonored 2's story compared to the original. A bit of the immersion was lost and I was constantly reminded I was just playing a game. That's not to say every game is better off with a mute. We wouldn't have characters like Duke Nukem if that were the case.

well, if he wants to be wrong, he can be wrong I guess.

All that being said, while I absolutely understand where this video is coming from and agree with all the points he makes for his argument, I disagree with his argument. I personally think having Corvo be voiced would have lessened my experience. I generally don't like my protagonist saying things that I wouldn't say, or that are even at odds with what I am thinking.

Also I think it’s pretty telling that a lot of the examples he used for vocal stealth game protagonists are 3rd Person characters, which usually aren’t meant to be blank slates for the players to connect to. Kind of a flawed comparison

actually i have the exact opposite problem with voiced protagonists - they often just say exactly what i'm thinking without really adding anything. often it comes across as unnecessary and just kills any mystique or depth i might have imagined my character to have, a lot of the time even taking me out of the game because it's just some dude directly telling me, the player, what my objectives are

"Wait a second... That note." Yeah, I get what you mean. I hate the protagonist stupidly voicing aloud exactly what the player needs to do. Not only is it condescending to the player, but it completely breaks the immersion - most people don't proudly announce to the world "I need to find a way into the keep and assassinate the High Overseer!"

Yup. I loved the first Dishonored but I wasn't able to get into Dishonored 2 for the same reasons you mention. Personally, I've never been a fan of voiced player characters since as you say, it keeps reminding me that I'm just playing a game. I don't need a deep character or necessarily my own character made with an editor, I just want to be able to do exactly what I want to do without hearing the player character go "huh... maybe I should go over there to check out what those guys are doing" when I'm running the opposite direction. It instantly pulls me out from the game world to have my character and I disagree on where to go. Or if I start speculating on the game plot and the player character goes ahead with its own speculation on what's going on and yet again I feel this sudden disconnect since I don't necessarily agree with it. I want to think for myself, act for myself and let the player character be an extension of me to interact with the game world, not be the puppet master of a game character who has his own "thoughts" and "feelings".

For a moment I thought you were talking about Prey 2006 and was confused because the protagonist in that game rarely shuts up.

Did y'all forget it worked with Gordon Freeman