To speak or not to speak?

[MuscleheadMustelid]

So basically as the title suggests, do you prefer a protagonist that's voiced or unvoiced?

Personally I prefer my Player Character to be silent so I can imagine what they sound like, how they say the words, etc. obviously a silent character would need proper dialogue options that display what you actually say and not a streamlined (often hard to gauge the tone behind) synopsis.

Obviously games like the witcher 3 needed Geralt to have a voice, and of course I do understand some people prefer having a voice they can hear to engage with which is why I made this post? thread? poll? To gauge if I'm alone in my preference.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

For me, it depends in fact. I casted "it doesn't matter" but it matter a lot, but I'm liking both, depending of the type of character I'm playing
- If your character is a "blank slate" like in BG3 or like in Bethesda games, it's way better to not have voice acting. Because it would require too much work registering all the dialogue lines and very hard to reflect the character player would want.
- But if the character is "definied" or "half-definied" like The Witcher or in this case, Cyberpunk, voice acting is great when done well. In CD Projekt Red games, voice acting is top notch and I couldn't imagine playing without.

 

[Taril]

I prefer voiced protagonists.

As I'm fully into the nuances between a video game (That has every interaction hard coded, so that no matter what, even a blank slate silent protagonist will end up conforming to the personality that the writers have set out for it) and a TT RPG (Where there is complete freedom to define your own character).

I go into a video game simply expecting to play through the writer's story as the writer's character (With maybe some options to nudge them into some predefined personalities. I.e. Mass Effect's goody-two-shoes Paragon or Jerky McJerkface Renegade)

Also, unlike some, I don't like the idea of completely ignoring the actual dialogue, interactions and story to insert whatever headcanon in its place (Since at that point, I'd just not play the game and imagine my own story like I do all the time...).

Meanwhile, I really like the dynamic cinematography that voiced protagonists provide. Where some people say "Why do I want to hear the thing I just read being said aloud?" I note that voiced lines allow for more character involvement in a scene. For example:

- If I make a threatening comment, the protagonist will draw and brandish a weapon as they say it.
- When making an insulting comment the protagonist will also make rude gestures.
- Making a flirting comment can lead to things like holding the romantic partner's hand, pulling them closer for a kiss and other signs of affection
- I can make dialogue options that involve actions like drinking a beer (Or smashing said beer over some gonks head)

This is way more interesting than the protagonist just sitting there like a lemon and having other parties react like you actually did something (Or at best, the character silently performing actions after you select a dialogue option).

Taking the time to have things expressed by the protagonist allows for real time reactions to occur. Having other people's facial expressions and body language shift as your character speaks. Having your character shift tone and positions as lines are said. Better back and forth between characters as multiple lines can be mixed together (As opposed to silent dialogue > other party monologue > silent dialogue exclusively)

 

[MuscleheadMustelid]

I prefer voiced protagonists.

As I'm fully into the nuances between a video game (That has every interaction hard coded, so that no matter what, even a blank slate silent protagonist will end up conforming to the personality that the writers have set out for it) and a TT RPG (Where there is complete freedom to define your own character).

I go into a video game simply expecting to play through the writer's story as the writer's character (With maybe some options to nudge them into some predefined personalities. I.e. Mass Effect's goody-two-shoes Paragon or Jerky McJerkface Renegade)

Also, unlike some, I don't like the idea of completely ignoring the actual dialogue, interactions and story to insert whatever headcanon in its place (Since at that point, I'd just not play the game and imagine my own story like I do all the time...).

Meanwhile, I really like the dynamic cinematography that voiced protagonists provide. Where some people say "Why do I want to hear the thing I just read being said aloud?" I note that voiced lines allow for more character involvement in a scene. For example:

- If I make a threatening comment, the protagonist will draw and brandish a weapon as they say it.
- When making an insulting comment the protagonist will also make rude gestures.
- Making a flirting comment can lead to things like holding the romantic partner's hand, pulling them closer for a kiss and other signs of affection
- I can make dialogue options that involve actions like drinking a beer (Or smashing said beer over some gonks head)

This is way more interesting than the protagonist just sitting there like a lemon and having other parties react like you actually did something (Or at best, the character silently performing actions after you select a dialogue option).

Taking the time to have things expressed by the protagonist allows for real time reactions to occur. Having other people's facial expressions and body language shift as your character speaks. Having your character shift tone and positions as lines are said. Better back and forth between characters as multiple lines can be mixed together (As opposed to silent dialogue > other party monologue > silent dialogue exclusively)

Obviously it won't be entirely unique, but for example when you're scouting the arasaka place with takemura all dialogue options lead to be snide or rude to him. This repeats for almost all dialogue choices in the game, even for major quests there's only one or two options and they both lead to the same outcome. With a silent protagonist you can code more options for diverse dialogues that have more NPC reactions for less cost and less strain on the system. (The protagonist moving in conjunction with he dialogue options isn't barred because they don't say the words out loud either, drinking doesn't require speaking, and it lets you pick EXACTLY what you intend to say instead of misunderstanding an option synopsis)

In a game where there is a pre set character it's fine to play through their story, but why offer the ability to customize your character and offer dialogue "options" if neither actually matter? (impact the story, your relationships etc.) It just feels like CDPR wanted to make a an open world character driven game instead of a truly immersive RPG (which is odd because they locked in first person perspective

 

[Taril]

With a silent protagonist you can code more options for diverse dialogues that have more NPC reactions for less cost and less strain on the system.

The number of options available has little to do with voiced or not.

You can have 1000 voiced options just as you can non-voiced.

The only limitation is how much developers want to pay the VA to record the lines.

The protagonist moving in conjunction with he dialogue options isn't barred because they don't say the words out loud either, drinking doesn't require speaking

Uhh... This is exclusive to voiced dialogue.

Like I said, with unvoiced dialogue, the best you can hope for is you pick an option and then your character silently does the action.

With voiced dialogue, you can have your character saying stuff WHILE doing things, they can pause what they're saying to swig a drink and then continue talking, they can use body language to emphasise particular words they're saying.

None of these things can occur with a character silently performing actions.

it lets you pick EXACTLY what you intend to say instead of misunderstanding an option synopsis

This is also an issue with design rather than an inherent aspect of voiced vs non-voiced.

You can have very clear voiced options. Just as you can have non-voiced options that don't pan out as you might think (Due to the underlying tone that is associated with them, which is not always discernable unless the game puts like (Sarcastic) markers on text, which can also be done for voiced options too)

In a game where there is a pre set character it's fine to play through their story, but why offer the ability to customize your character and offer dialogue "options" if neither actually matter?

Again, you're hating on an implementation of a system not the system itself.

You can have plenty of dialogue options with voiced characters. With good VA's able to bring to life different tones and personalities. Allowing you to shape a character to your desired personality, just like with non-voiced.

It's all a matter of if the writers actually bother to do that. There's plenty of non-voiced games that shoehorn your character into a specific personality just like there are voiced ones that offer options.

It just feels like CDPR wanted to make a an open world character driven game instead of a truly immersive RPG

CDPR are very much focused on narrative based games. It is their bread and butter, it's what they do and it's what people come to them for.

So it's no surprise that CP2077 ended up being a narrative based game. Yes, it tried to include immersion such as first person perspective and various interactions and worldbuilding. But the core of the design is that story and the protagonist Johnny.

It's also relevant to bear in mind that CP2077 went through some developmental problems and was delayed and rushed out with a significant amount of crunch. This is likely to have affected the amount of time and resources they could have put into writing different dialogue options.

It's quite possible they intended to add more dialogue options, to allow V to be given different personalities, to have Johnny insert himself into even more situations, to flesh out things like the Lifepath choices etc. But due to the way development went, they had to cut it down to the bare minimum in order to get the game out.

 

[Bartinga2077]

"To speak or not to speak?"​

Voiced. I find a silent protagonist so weirdly out of place. Everybody talks except the player. Capcom made a bunch of games where the player is silent.

I don't know where the urge came from to keep the player silent and everybody else talks, but it rips me out of the story every time.

If no one is talking like in FF14 that time, fine. But in all the other games that I played where the protagonist was silent, everyone else talked.

You also get those weird sentences coming from NPCs when they are communicating with a silent protagonist asking them a question and then answering it themselves because obviously the protagonist won't.

DDDA is another one such game, protagonist silent, everyone else talks. Even the goblins talked. And now in RE9 the zombies talk. Granted, the protagonists in RE9 all talk, but it is saying something. No, I'd rather have an AI generated voiced protagonist than a silent one.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Silen character.

It’s supposed to be ”my” character. Don’t make me endure a characterization that’s not ”mine”.

 

[Draconifors]

I wrote about this topic in an old thread (2019). Below is a copy/paste updated for 2026.


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Recently I've been playing quite a bit of Skyrim, and I definitely think the PC being voiced would be more than a little odd because the character you play as is entirely your creation and has no predefined qualities (well, except for the big story thing).

Then there is Witcher 3, which, with its entirely predefined player character, would not work without a voiced protagonist.

Cyberpunk is somewhere in between those two games since V is mostly custom. I don't have a problem with him/her being voiced.


I do, however, see the appeal of a silent protagonist. It allows one to make the PC truly one's own because it doesn't dictate reactions, voice pitch, accent, tone of voice, how sarcastic the PC is, etc. Basically, it gives way more freedom when it comes to role-playing.

The PC being voiced, on the other hand, eliminates the sometimes awkward "conversations" where an NPC or a group of NPCs is talking to a silent PC, receiving responses in text they somehow hear despite there being no voice, and continuing to talk. It's not exactly realistic, especially when the player doesn't read out the lines they choose or otherwise "voice" their character.


To sum up: Voiced or silent, at the end of the day it makes no real difference when it comes to immersion. Neither does it affect role-playing in any particularly meaningful way; it's perfectly possible to "override" or add to a voiced protagonist in one's mind if one so chooses. I know I often do that with Geralt.
V's voiced, and I've no problem with it, but I would not have had a problem with a silent V either. There are much more important aspects -- role-playing and general -- that determine whether a game is enjoyable to me.
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My opinion hasn't changed in the past 7 years; I still see the appeal of both options, and both have a type of player character with which I think they work (the best).

In any case, I'll never not play a game based on its protagonist being voiced or silent. Unless they're voiced and I find the voice obnoxious or otherwise too hard to listen to for the entire game -- which has never happened.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

In any case, I'll never not play a game based on its protagonist being voiced or silent.

I’ll echo this, but certain things are like that little annoying pebble in the shoe that rolls around under your foot. And when you take the shoe off, it has found its place somewhere where it just won’t budge as you try to shake it out; only to emerge again rolling around when you put the shoe back on.

 

[SpookyFX]

I always found it funny that in most cases there is no such thing as a voiceless player character becasue they do hire VA to do the grunts, cry and other "involuntary" vocals.