Silent protagonists are a hotly debated topic among RPG enthusiasts. Often acting as a stand-in for the player, these characters are often the main protagonists, although they have no (or very little) dialogue, and can only interact with characters through basic dialogue options. And the creator Dragon QuestYuji Horii shared about the difficulties of using silent protagonists in modern video games.
In a conversation with the director of Figure The Katsura Hashino series was published in Famous Gamer (and translated by Automated media), Horii admitted that the “increasingly realistic” graphics had made silent protagonists “increasingly difficult to depict”.
Horii’s reason for using a silent protagonist is no surprise — it allows the player to imagine what the character is going through and project their emotions onto the character. This is aided by NES-era graphics, which didn’t allow for expressive character portraits or models or even complex animations. Players had to use their imagination.
During the conversation, Horii joked with Hashino about the evolution of visuals, saying that “… as game graphics evolved and became more realistic, if you made a main character just stand there, they would look like an idiot.” So, surely, the solution was to have the character react in certain situations, right?
Well, not really. This leads to a new problem: the character’s reactions to events may not reflect the player’s own reactions, thus cutting off that connection. So, in Horii’s view, “…the type of protagonist that appears in Dragon Quest is becoming increasingly difficult to portray as games become more realistic. This will be a challenge in the future as well.” Game development is a constantly evolving and complex process.
Dragon Quest is one of the few major RPG series to still feature a silent protagonist, with Dragon Quest XILuminary is the most recent major example. Aside from the occasional grunt or noise, he is completely silent. Persona is another example of this, although since Character 3 (when Hashino became director), the main character has some voiced dialogue during battle — and sometimes during cutscenes. Notably, this tradition has not carried over to Hashino’s latest game, Metaphor: ReFantaziowhere the main character will be voiced.
What does this mean for the future of Dragon Quest? Dragon Quest XII Will it have more realistic graphics? Or will Dragon Quest XII have a voiced protagonist? Luminary was a pretty expressive character in Dragon Quest XI, and that game’s visuals weren’t very realistic, so we think there’s a way to balance the two. But this little snippet will likely get fans debating whether the next hero should have a voice or not.
However, Dragon Quest XII still has a long way to go. The game has was reportedly delayed internally earlier this year.But A very brief update in May from Horii-san confirmed that the game is still in development and that he’s “in meetings” about it. Prior to Dragon Quest XII, we had Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Coming soon, there will definitely be a silent protagonist.
