When playing a game, do you like to feel immersed with the main character? Do you like being in control of your character's feelings towards the rest of the world and its characters, or do you like to play the specific role of the character in its story and see where the character goes?
Things like this normally differentiate from the character's ability to speak. Silent protagonists allow the story to unfold directly to the player, not to the character. Characters like Link, Megaman, and early Mario & Sonic titles have this element and it is very common in most RPGs as well. Giving the player choices on which actions to take also allow the player to directly immerse themselves in the game as they are given the feeling of importance, where their decision matters to the game and how it will progress.
First-person games also have this thing where cutscenes play out, but you are still able to move allowing yourself to see the events in your own way from your perspective, rather than being forced to you in a story-mode manner.
I would like to discuss this because I want to learn how you can introduce the story and its theme to the player through the character without making him a silent protagonist. I want to be able to create emotion from the player that simultaneously correlates with what the main character is feeling. The character feels weak, you feel weak. The character feels mad, you feel mad. This is a problem especially with games that have dialogue as I don't want the player to feel like they're playing a character in a set-in-stone story. I want the player to feel like they ARE the character, or that they're exploring or learning the story along with the character, at least. That after the game, I don't want people to say "oh Link is cool", I want them to either say "I'm cool" or "I'm cool as Link/Me playing as Link is cool" or something like that.
Examples:
Megaman XIn Megaman X, you are forced into a boss fight with Vile where you are inevitably defeated (Vile has no visible lifebar and you cannot damage him at all). Then Zero comes and saves you from Vile.
Dialogues from the game go around like this:
X: I feel weak because I can't beat him
Zero: Don't worry, you'll get stronger, even stronger than I am, then you WILL be able to defeat him.
That makes you, as a player, feel weak because you cannot defeat him. This small dialogue from Zero also inspires you to become stronger (as a player and as X where he gains better armor in the game) where you feel the progression of growth.
Next, you face Vile a SECOND time and this time you can beat him, but only after he destroys Zero. X looks up to Zero and him being stronger than you is provides a calming presence to you as a player that things are somewhat within your side's control. However, when he dies. You feel rage to defeat this bastard Vile who took Zero away. Which immerses you with X (who has more armor upgrades now and can totally wreck Vile).
Super MetroidAssuming everyone already knows this, so SPOILERS.
In Super Metroid, your mission is to rescue the baby Metroid. By the end of the game, you face seemingly indestructible enemies that the baby Metroid (now all grown up) attacks. It destroys those enemies but also attacks you afterward. However, it realizes that you saved it from before (in Metroid II, this is the third Metroid installment). You feel a connection with the Metroid because it not only helped Samus in cutscene or something, it helped YOU with a hard enemy.
In the final boss battle with Mother Brain, similar to Vile, you cannot damage Mother Brain and she destroys you. But right before she kills you off, the Metroid attacks Mother Brain and defeats her. Then the Metroid proceeds to heal you and Mother Brain's defeat reveals to be short-lived. Mother Brains kills the Metroid and it grants you enough power to defeat Mother Brain. You feel mad and enraged to avenge the Metroid and that immerses you with Samus. (Along with the openness of the world where you are free to choose which direction you want to take as a player, and its isolation).