#rionaldo

To everyone that follows me, this is not the kind of content I usually post, as it has nothing to do with Peter Parker or Marvel in general. So feel free to skip this if it doesn’t interest you.

*Discussion is encouraged, but please keep things civil.*

Okay. Let me start this off by saying that I’m not a newbie when it comes to Dragon Quest games. (I haven’t played every part of the series, but I have played a few) So I know a silent and nameless protagonist is pretty much the modus operandi to these games, yet I still think it’s a shame that they stuck with this for DQ11.

Now the idea behind the nameless/silent protagonist in the Dragon Quest series has always been that you, as the player, ARE the hero. And I get that.

However, I don’t think that this kind of immersion and identifying with the character works, when the player is given an almost blank slate.

I’m not that far along in the game yet, storywise, that I would be able to point out every bit of scene that I think would have benefitted from a speaking character, but I will try to give some examples from what I have played through so far.

*Jade and Bodo/Rab have just joined my party*

*spoilers for everyone who isn’t just starting the game*

Okay, the very beginning of the game. The character, let’s call him Eleven from here on out, is told by the elders of his village that he is the luminary and is supposed to head out to report to the King of Heliodor. Okay, fine. Nothing unusual about this for a fantasy rpg. But Eleven is just like: “Okay, Imma do just that.” (Except of course, he doesn’t say anything.) There is no confusion in the character. He isn’t being sceptical at all about his apparent role/fate, he doesn’t question what happened at all. There is no real backstory about who or what the luminary is, or why he is needed. I mean, sure, you have this ‘There was a time when the Luminary rose to fight the evil in the land’ spiel, but playing the character in this moment, I didn’t feel exactly satisfied with it.

Then the talk with the King of Heliodor, who calls you the spawn of darness and throws you into the dungeon. (And let’s not forget the obvious threat spoken out to your hometown). Again, Eleven is just: “Yeah, Imma go to jail now.” There is no outrage or confusion or anger or devastation in his espression. He doesn’t struggle against the guards, he doesn’t try to argue with the king, doesn’t try to do anything to prevent a possible attack against his hometown.

At this point, I don’t feel like I’m the hero. I feel frustrated with him.

Let’s speed up a little to the time when Eleven and Erik make it to the hero’s hometown. Which has been destroyed. No sign of survivors anywhere. I will concede that the character displayed signs of shock. (perfectly underlined with Erik’s dialoge in this scene) But where was the pain, the grief, the loss? We got a few seconds of the character staring at the ruins of his home, expression unbelieving and shocked. And again, that was good. But then it’s over and it doesn’t matter anymore.

I’m supposed to experience this adventure through the hero, BE the hero, but I don’t feel represented by such a passiv character. The situation doesn’t touch me as much and deeply as it could (and should), because the character I’m playing doesn’t seem to be affected all that much.

Let’s go a little further down the road, still. Eleven and Jade have just fought Hendrik and escaped with their lives. They are wrapped up in blankets in the little hut and Jade tells him of the day his mother died protecting the two of them. About how she lost hold of him when falling into the river, and how she still hadn’t forgiven herself for that. Eleven just sits there, doing nothing.

Even a silent protagonist could lend some support by placing a hand on her shoulder.

His continued non-actions and reactions are further highlighted by how very expressive and emotive the rest of his group is.

Bodo/Rab’s tears of joy and sorrow when finding Eleven alive, and weeping at the grave of his daughter and son in law.

Rebacca’s constant attitude, Serena’s calming and cheerful, yet emphatic nature. Jade’s tough persona, that is balanced by her care for the hero. Erik’s trust and loyalty, that he wears the same way he does his street smarts and rough exterior. Rionaldo/Sylvano with, well, everything that makes up his person.

You have all these great, fleshed out characters, and then you have the hero, who is just... there.

I can’t help but draw parallels with another silent protagonist I played in the Tales game series. Tales of Xillia 2. Ludger van Kresnik. He hardly said a word through the entire game, but there was never a doubt about what he was feeling. He wasn’t a blank slate, but instead felt real to me.

And why is the idea behind the silent protagonis, that it makes it easier for the player to be them?

For me, personally, it is because I get to know and understand the character I’m playing, that I feel connected to them and their story.

I was the tough and self assured Yuri in Tales of Vesperia. I felt smug when I won over the knights, I felt tough when protecting others.

I was the angry and vengeful Velvet in Tales of Berseria. I hated Arthur as much as she did, I didn’t want to trust or care for anyone else (in the beginning)

I was the do-gooder, slightly too naive Asbel in Tales of Graces. I wanted to believe that I can save Richard, just as I wanted to believe that I can save Lambda.

I was the wise-cracking, web-slinging Peter Parker in Spiderman. It was me who was taunting the criminals while webbing them up, and it was me who broke down when Aunt May died.

I felt connected to all these characters, and immersed in their world, because I was able to get to know and understand them. And through that, feel what they felt.

That, to me, is what an immersive gaming experience is, not some meek, passiv, no-name, mute main character.

But why does this bother me so much now, when I didn’t really care about it in the previous games in this series? Perhaps because this story feels like so much more. The animation, the music, the way the story is told, the charismatic characters in my party and in the world around me. And of course, the fact that I have become used to games that are so much more than ‘jump over this rock’ and ‘attack this enemy’.

Despite all this, I like playing the game. I’m even already shipping some of the characters with each other (even though I get so irritated with Eleven in the game, he and Erik are just so...*chef kiss*).

I do, honestly, think that this is a good game.