The silent treatment
- by Khayl Adam 58m ago
![Dragon Quest XI PS4 PlayStation](https://images.pushsquare.com/1e29fab898ff2/dragon-quest-xi-ps4-playstation.900x.jpg)
We don't see silent protagonists very often these days, and that's probably because, in this age of excellent voice acting and high-fidelity graphics, they look a little bit silly in comparison. That's according to a guy extremely familiar with the subject.
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii was speaking to Persona series director Katsura Hashino in a piece published by Denfaminicogamer (and translated by Automaton Media, thanks Nintendo Life), and the topic of silent protagonists came up. Horii said that "increasingly realistic" graphics are making this old-fashioned style of RPG hero "increasingly difficult to depict". Taking things a step further, Horii joked with Hashino that, as games and graphics continue to evolve, "if you make a protagonist who just stands there, they will look like an idiot".
This begs the question, what does the future hold for Dragon Quest, notably one of the last major RPG franchises to maintain a silent protagonist? Will the upcoming hero of Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate find a voice or just emote a lot more?