Voice acted protagonist in RPGs or mute written dialogue?

[Cosmic Janitor]

I choose mute because that is what I can live with. Personally I really liked in DA:I how my Travelyan talked and If I can have a voice acted MC I'm all for it, but it's way more important that other characters are voiced. I really have a hard time enjoying purely text based games these days.

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If we're strictly talking about the choose your own adventure type RPGs like Witcher, DA, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, etc, then mute.

If we're talking about more traditional linear RPGs, I prefer voice acting so long as its good. Tales of Berseria is a great example.

Especially in games where you play a defined character like Geralt I don't see the point in forcing mute. Geralt being voiced only added to the game.

[Tunaria]

With a few exceptions, I'm gonna say mute works better for me.
Easier to immerse yourself and treat your character as your own.

With voice acting I feel like I'm always playing someone else's character, not my own.
DA:I made it work pretty well due to good writing and limiting the predetermined stuff to just your character's background/origin.

Most of the humor I've gotten from RPGs are the ones where the main character isn't voice acted, as the dialogue choices was open to interpretation to some degree.

[Skizzit]

I guess I am in the minority, but I always prefer voiced. I even feel like it easier for me to get immersed with a voiced character. When I am playing a game, I don't think of it like I am the character in the game, but that I am playing a character that is not me and having the character speak in a voice that is not mine only helps add to that. Games where the MC does have dialog and it doesn't have any voice acting, only text is fine, but I compare a game like FFXIV to a game like SWTOR. Both are probably the best examples of solid story telling in an MMO and while I don't mind the way FFXIV does it with other character speaking to the player character and the PC only responding with text and facial expressions, having your character actually speak like in swtor just adds a little something extra. Getting to hear your Sith Warrior for example chew out some Imperial worm with that uppity and condescending and yet still commanding voice is just fantastic and really helps me get into character.

[PACOX]

If I was a dev I would go with mute just so I dont have to hear people complain about the line/VA. People confuse open RPGs with completly open protagonists.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I mean Sarcastic Hawke was one of the few saving graces of DA:2 and my Trevelyan sounded adorable. And I somehow doubt I would get truly complex character answers if it was mute (something like the Nameless One's walls of text in Torment) because honestly, DA:O did not have them either.

The problem is with how limited the options are for the starting character. DA:I had many options and people were mostly happy with the voice acting there. I think if DA:O had the same budget it could easily have been voiced.

It certainly was the thing that actually turned the conversations into dialogues. Especially when Bioware offered more choices of them I think they worked great. If there only was young cocky VA option instead of the others it would have probably been not as good (played a more sophistcated older character and the VA was great for that). I think this is something I actually expect from AAA RPGs these days as the bare minimum. Heck even D:OS2 has most characters voiced with your character being the only exception so far. I'd rather they spend more money on that in the future than on 8k foliage..

[Soulwind]

Depends on the game.

Games with many choices, where you can be whoever you want and do whatever you want, text. e.g. Divinity.

Games with less choices, but strong characters and complex stories, voices. e.g. The Witcher.

[HitRefresh]

I think voice over in RPGs is really unnecessary. I don't think it helped games like Zelda, and I think it makes them focus less on having more written dialogue because they have to pay more money to get voice actors to read all these lines and so forth. If there is voice acting though, I'd rather hear the main character speak than every other character speaking and him just reacting or some bullshit.

[Miniwonder]

I prefer voice acted but I also like subtitles so I dont have to wear headphones all the time

[Pony Soldier]

Depends on the style of the game.

If it's a 2D style game I don't mind because then it's like playing a comic book.

For 3D games I want the characters to have voices. It doesn't make sense to me to have a fully 3D world and go all out on the visuals to try to immerse you in the story but then have no voices for the characters. It's really annoying to me these days.

[pateuvasiliu]

Voice acted, not even close.

DA2/DA3/Witcher series/Fallout4 VAs were solid.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Depends on the game.

If I am playing a game more akin to a novel, ie Stein's Gate or Trails in the Sky, then I'd prefer to read it at my own pace.

If the game is going for the more cinematic approach with cutscenes and dynamic interactions, then voice acting would be preferred. However, I would like quality voice work and dialogue; too many games today have sloppy dialogue or use VA's who don't sell the character.

[Arrashi]

Voice acted, not even close.

DA2/DA3/Witcher series/Fallout4 VAs were solid.

"Ohmaigadwheresmaibeibiboy WHERES SHAUN !?!?!"

Yeah, voiced protags sure were "solid". Especially male one.

[Jester Joe]

I really don't mind either way.

Some games can pull off the silent protagonist really well, some pull off the voice acted ones also really well.

Like, Persona 4/5 vs Witcher 3. They're all solid games, but different types of MC.

I think Persona especially hits a good spot, the MC having a few lines in cutscenes, but having all battle commands and other random lines voiced over. Guess it's not fully a mute protag at that point, but still.

[pateuvasiliu]

"Ohmaigadwheresmaibeibiboy WHERES SHAUN !?!?!"

Yeah, voiced protags sure were "solid". Especially male one.

The voice actor is fine. It's the lines that were meh. Not the VA's fault.

[Arrashi]

The voice actor is fine. It's the lines that were meh. Not the VA's fault.

I don't know, at some points he menaged to rival tommy wiseau. Especially that sarcasm line to cornflakes possesed nick. That delivery was golden.

[Nirawen]

Depends on the game but usually prefer mute. If it's a linear RPG that focuses on telling a specific story then voiced can be fine but if there's an element of self-expression in how the story is formed or experienced then muted it usually better as it allows for more freedom.