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[Smithy]

 

I thought the heart was a interesting way of delivering exposition. not very good, but interesting at least.

Eh, yeah, but outside of the heart's cliche uses as an expo-dump, I liked the way they left hints throughout the game that the heart belonged to the empress. As a silent protagonist, you get the feeling that Corvo somehow never realizes this. Just that detail added to the atmosphere. It was a nice touch.

[Capntastic]

The problem is that Corvo has all the opportunities to be a really amazing character, but they basically forego them solely to keep him silent.  The dude is an ex-Pro Bodyguard, Personal Friend of the Empress, master swordsman, and then gets magic powers and stuff. 

So making him silent and a dope is stupid, considering how much of the game hinges on Corvo being a behemoth of power.

[ham and brie]

It's a trade-off. Personally I'm glad they went with a silent protagonist. You can't really give him a strong personality that won't contradict how some players will play the game.

I think whether you like silent protagonists or not depends on whether you take it literally that they're actually not ever saying anything.

[deathtotheweird]

You can't really give him a strong personality that won't contradict how some players will play the game.

Bullshit. other games have done it, it's not like it's impossible. It just requires a bit more work, and that's why I think they went with silent protagonist. It's easier.

Deus Ex, a game released in 2000 managed this. Literally no reason why Dishonored couldn't have done it.

[ham and brie]

Deus Ex, a game released in 2000 managed this. Literally no reason why Dishonored couldn't have done it.

There's not as much range in JC's personality as a silent protagonist allows the player. You have dialogue choices, but having him talking definitely imposes restriction on how you can interpret the character.

And actually the JC's scripting is quite well known for

what the player does.

This is a subjective preference, not something where one way of doing it is better and the other is lazy.

[s0]

dishonored has dialog choices too so corvo does "talk" in a sense. they could have just voiced those and presto. having npcs respond to your protagonist's apparent silence is kinda awkward anyway.

btw:
http://games.on.net/2012/10/corvo-is-a-better-silent-protagonist-than-gordon-freeman-says-dishonored-writer/

[deathtotheweird]

You have dialogue choices, but having him talking definitely imposes restriction on how you can interpret the character.

I don't really see how that's a problem. I would rather the game have a fleshed out character with dialogue than a dull blank slate only open to my interpretation. This isn't an RPG where you create your own chracter, this is a story driven game where the protagonist has a relationship with the world around him and many of the characters in it.

It really takes me out of the experience when the entire world is reacting to Corvo, but he just stands there motionless and speechless. It works in Half Life and Bioshock, but not in a game like Dishonored where there is so much interaction with NPCs.

and that interview is pretty hilarious, because that's exactly how I felt about Dishonored.

I hate what Valve does with the silent protagonist. I find it incredibly awkward and really creepy

though I do agree with him when you apply this criticism to Half-Life 2 and it's episodes, there is too much NPC interaction there to believe that Gordon would not say anything.

[ham and brie]

I don't really see how that's a problem. I would rather the game have a fleshed out character with dialogue than a dull blank slate only open to my interpretation. This isn't an RPG where you create your own chracter, this is a story driven game where the protagonist has a relationship with the world around him and many of the characters in it.

It doesn't need to be an RPG for it to make sense for the player to be allowed to imagine the player character how they want.

I'm not so much saying that non-silent protagonists are a problem, but they are a different experience and silent protagonists have some advantages. It does depend on the player getting the point that the character isn't being represented as literally silent though.