Voice acting has become the standard in games, to the point where text-based dialog looks archaic and outdated. However, The Legend of Zelda has always refused to embrace any voice acting outside of grunts and gurgles, and Skyward Sword isn't going to change that.
"Personally, I don't want to have Link speak in the game," says producer Eiji Aonuma in Nintendo Power. "We haven't had him talk at all up to this point. It's part of the series history. It would just, to me, break the image of Link to have him speak.
"In terms of other characters, if Link never talks and everybody else in the game is chatting and whatnot I also think that's sort of an off mixture, so it's not something that, to be honest, I've really thought I want to be superactive about or I've really pressed for it. It just hasn't come up to me personally."
I don't think being mute while other characters talk has ever bothered Gordon Freeman, but I nonetheless respect the decision to keep voice acting out of Zelda. Bad voice acting can ruin a game, and considering the last time we heard Link speak, I think it's a very good thing that Nintendo is keeping him mute.
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Contest:
11:20 AM on 08.12.2010 | 
I'm glad Skyward Sword will continue this trend, VA makes games feel more cinematic, and I prefer my games to have that "archaic" old skool feeling as opposed to the more movie-like feel of today's games' stories.
Yeah, I don't know....I'll wait to see how it is in Metroid before I make a decision, but I'm usually against voice acting in general so....
Especially in Wind Waker.
I don't understand why it couldn't be like that, except the other characters have voice acting.
Because that just doesn't seem very Zelda-like. There's never a need for Link to respond anyway.
True. Well maybe they could give us the choice of grunting, making a select expression, or just walking away from the conversation, lol.
Plus i enjoy the odd sounds Tingle makes already and i don't know if I'd like him saying anything else :'D
There were a few scenes in Twilight Princess that looked like they COULD have used character voices to give a bit more emotion, but nah. Keep it like it is, Nintendork.
@Magnalon
I've also considered the idea of Link being actually mute and I kind of like it.
But why can't they do like Metroid Prime 3, where Samus was still silent while everyone else had a voice? I honestly think it's stupid not giving a voice to characters that CAN speak in a game.
An HD console essentially dictates larger disc space (a la Blu Ray). It's obvious that I'm stating larger disc space = more room for audio = more room for fully voiced dialogue, like FFXIII.
Take your entire rant, and apply it to Gordon Freeman for me.
Link HAS personality. I can't really explain it, but that little elf boy has a heap of character based on his body language in just about every game. I love it.
Gordon? Yea, he's just a Robert Downey Jr. look-alike without the substance abuse.
I hope that on a Zelda HD link can still be muted...
Would you enjoy watching a Batman movie if he didn't sound anything like you had imagined him to sound in a comic book. That's kinda how people feel about Link or Mario. Its not so much that the character is "you" so much as what you've read into how they'd respond in your mind.
I think Samus can talk because she's really the only character that has continuity and history. She can't always be isolated so interaction had to come along eventually. I don't think that will disrupt what Metroid is about or who Samus is, especially considering how well Zero Mission, Prime 2 and Prime 3 integrated story.
There is absolutely no need for Link or anyone in the Zelda games to talk. Part of the fun of the Zelda games is imagining how the characters sound.
And I would actually argue that even Gordon Freeman sticks out like a sore thumb in the HL games because he can't speak.
I'm not saying Link needs to be a chatterbox ala Duke Nukem but if you want me to care about the story (something I've never done in a Zelda game), I expect the protagonist to take some part in the conversations with the other characters I'm supposed to care about or the decisions that are going to place me in mortal danger.
I was so excited to type the same thing and then I saw your dirty rotten first post and it crushed my dreams forever,....
Zelda being such an old franchise could get away with just making all of the dialogue text, but I expect Link to talk in text as well.
Also @The Silent Protagonist imagine if you saw a Batman movie where Batman never talked (even as Bruce Wayne). Besides, Link has had a voice for a long time ever since he started yelling during attacks. Just use that.
HEY, KEEP IT DOWN YOU TWO!!
Anyhoo, I think they should at least voice act the other characters. Link honestly does not need it, lest I desire to hear about his insatiable thirst for Octorok flesh.
lol how is any more of an "off mixture" than reading several minutes worth of dialogue from characters that link encounters while he sits there and says nothing.
Actually a batman movie without batman talking could work... Batman's such a stoic and brooding character that he can pull off no talking; it may actually work towards making him even more intimidating. Though bruce wayne would still need to talk...
Nah, I think reading text makes you more directly connected to the narrative because you can drive the text and follow it at your leisure. The silent protagonist works, look at Gordon Freeman. Marcus Fenix could have been summed up with grunts and snorts since most of his dialogue equates to it. "They can eat shit and die for all I care...doi" I can't hear him and not think "hehe...Bender"
Everyone should be voiced by David Hayter