Should link(zelda seris) talk?

[MCSKITTLE19]

No link has a voice it is called his courage and if they give him a voice it will ruin Farores origin.

[Mirr0rR3flection]

Other characters but him should talk. His sounds right here are all we need to keep the magic of the Legend of Zelda series alive (^_^) :



Giving him actual lines will just kill the magic.

[SuperGamerMan]

No, Link nor anyone in the games should talk. For voice acting could ruin the game and I think the big "N" realizes that. I mean, I'm fine with the "Oiiiii!"s, the "Hey!"s, and the "Come on!"s that were in Windwaker if any of you can remember.

[jasonmaivia]

Yes. Let him speak.
Right now, he sounds like a retarded dog making all of the wrong doggy noises.

[Vonter]

Let's put some perspective:

Ghirahim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYvFIkIRYS8

Demise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll88Rd1vRpI

Just withstand the amateurish voice acting but see if it adds something.

[jasonmaivia]

Let's put some perspective:

Ghirahim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYvFIkIRYS8

Demise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll88Rd1vRpI

Just withstand the amateurish voice acting but see if it adds something.

In my mind, while playing the game, Demise sounds like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget.

[MoldyClay]

Link shouldn't talk. The whole point is that he's supposed to be an avatar of you, despite also being Link. To be honest, they already ripped the "being you" part out of him once they got to TWW and TP with all the facial expressions. They look great, but I no longer feel like I'm the one going on an adventure, I'm just guiding Link. Keep him quiet and he's got a little left in him.

As for the other characters, yes. They should talk. Not all the time. Just in story scenes. Think- Super Mario Sunshine. I want Zelda to have dialogue set up like that. Whenever you talk to characters in towns, they'd still just make sounds, but scenes would have full dialogue and Link grunting.

They've already inched towards it. They all make sounds several times and they move their mouths as though they're actually talking, it's the next logical step. And if you're worried about "THEY CAN'T SAY LINK'S NAME IF YOU'RE NOT NAMED LINK" that's never been an issue with Persona. They just have dialogue that avoids the name or says "him" or "you" instead or something.

Also, I don't know why a fandub somehow is proof that voices don't work. It just makes it a more engaging narrative. Reading text is even more evasive of gameplay than listening to people talk.

Likewise, while I agree Link shouldn't talk, I have no idea why people keep citing the CD-i games and the 80s cartoon as reasons why Link shouldn't talk. Aside from how old those are, those weren't even Nintendo in charge, obviously it wouldn't be those voices, and the only way we'd have lines like those is if Nintendo decided to drop all their Japanese scripts and ask those guys to return.

[Devil_Rising]

To be frank, the only serious answer is: No.

Link having a voice in the games would just shatter what Link has been, a conduit for "you the player", all these years. It would make it like every OTHER action/adventure title nowadays with too much voice acting.

Just look what happened when they gave SAMUS a voice. Didn't turn out too hot, did it?

[Ngamer01]

To be fair, Samus spoke in Metroid Fusion and the Metroid Manga. She also spoke in Brawl.

Heck even Mario talks to a degree now and he was mute up until the N64 era (as the US Mario cartoons aren't canon to the Mario series).

Link should have a voice, but I don't want him to be a complete chatterbox though. Like only have him speak when others are talking to him. All other times like when you're adventuring, Link can remain mute outside grunting.

Otherwise make Link completely mute and watch the immersion fall on it's face when Link gets punched in the face and doesn't even grunt or say anything about it.

[cortjezter]

if he does, he had better sound like jaleel white's sonic, or there will be hades to pay!

in fact, i think it should be a standard henceforth that all game characters sound that way.

[Devil_Rising]

if he does, he had better sound like jaleel white's sonic, or there will be hades to pay!

in fact, i think it should be a standard henceforth that all game characters sound that way.

Just...........no.


@BC5389

Honestly, I'd rather just read text for a Zelda game. Having to listen to some really dumb voice acting, especially for the same lines over and over, can get REALLY annoying (just ask Skyrim).

[cortjezter]

of course i was joking. we really need lipstick link's voice more than anything.

but really... i don't know if i recall link ever even having any lines to read either. what would he even be speaking? it's always the other characters that do the talking.

[Autosaver]

@MoldyClay

A more recent example of voice acting would be Sunshine.

Lmao...

[Jirachi]

Link shouldn't talk. The whole point is that he's supposed to be an avatar of you, despite also being Link. To be honest, they already ripped the "being you" part out of him once they got to TWW and TP with all the facial expressions. They look great, but I no longer feel like I'm the one going on an adventure, I'm just guiding Link. Keep him quiet and he's got a little left in him.

As for the other characters, yes. They should talk. Not all the time. Just in story scenes. Think- Super Mario Sunshine. I want Zelda to have dialogue set up like that. Whenever you talk to characters in towns, they'd still just make sounds, but scenes would have full dialogue and Link grunting.

They've already inched towards it. They all make sounds several times and they move their mouths as though they're actually talking, it's the next logical step. And if you're worried about "THEY CAN'T SAY LINK'S NAME IF YOU'RE NOT NAMED LINK" that's never been an issue with Persona. They just have dialogue that avoids the name or says "him" or "you" instead or something.

Also, I don't know why a fandub somehow is proof that voices don't work. It just makes it a more engaging narrative. Reading text is even more evasive of gameplay than listening to people talk.

Likewise, while I agree Link shouldn't talk, I have no idea why people keep citing the CD-i games and the 80s cartoon as reasons why Link shouldn't talk. Aside from how old those are, those weren't even Nintendo in charge, obviously it wouldn't be those voices, and the only way we'd have lines like those is if Nintendo decided to drop all their Japanese scripts and ask those guys to return.

Link's not an avatar you cannot choose how he looks at all,and he actually has a personality in recent zelda games.

[Devil_Rising]

Link's not an avatar you cannot choose how he looks at all,and he actually has a personality in recent zelda games.

I think you're looking at the "avatar" concept wrong. Shigeru Miyamoto, Link's creator, does and always has intended for Link to be an embodiment of "the player". He has said so numerous times. Why do you think that Link NEVER has any sort of meaningful back story? And he shouldn't. He's just "the mysterious hero". And that's exactly how he should be portrayed. Link is whatever the player playing him at the moment wants him to be. Link is an extension of the player. If you start giving him a voice, and giving him a back story, and forcing a set character on him, it's going to have the same effect that forcing too much of that s*** on Samus Aran did: a horrible one. People rejected what they did to her in Other M, and to some smaller extent even Metroid Fusion, because it messed with how THEY felt about her as a character. She was a "fill in the blank" type of character, much like Link. And that's part of the fun of them.

When you're playing a game with a set character who has a set personality and a set background and a set story, you are spending the entire game following that story and basically being along the ride for THEIR adventures. It was Miyamoto's intention that Link be a blank slate, more or less, because he wanted "the player" to be able to just get lost in that world, and take part in the adventure themselves. And to me, that is what has been great about the series.

Attempting to force anything more into that now, would be artificial, contrived, and lame.

[Darth Vader]

Link should definitely not speak but I think the games could benefit from some quality voice acting for NPCs or at the very least story important characters

[linkgx1]

@MoldyClay

A more recent example of voice acting would be Sunshine.

Lmao...

Oh hell naw. The biggest issue with that is they never....tested the voice I don't think. He had a Cookie Monster voice. Peach's was the best (remeber she also talked in SM64). Toad's was terrible too. But let's not talk about Sunshine because that game had bigger issues....like Peach not remebering if she had a kid or not.

But I think it could work, but not without some excellent testing.

Hideo Kojima should be selectin' the voice actors!

[MoldyClay]

Link shouldn't talk. The whole point is that he's supposed to be an avatar of you, despite also being Link. To be honest, they already ripped the "being you" part out of him once they got to TWW and TP with all the facial expressions. They look great, but I no longer feel like I'm the one going on an adventure, I'm just guiding Link.

Link's not an avatar you cannot choose how he looks at all,and he actually has a personality in recent zelda games.

Feels like you only read the first sentence. I made a point to say they totally abandoned the concept by giving Link a vague personality in recent games.

But if you want to argue about Link not being an avatar, you're gonna have to take that up with Miyamoto (though I am hypocritical, as I also think he has no idea what "RPG" means). The whole reason you can name him is because he's supposed to be you, but you're in Link's body.

Not to mention, the main character of Persona 3 and 4 are avatars of you and you have no control over what they look like.

Oh hell naw. The biggest issue with that is they never....tested the voice I don't think. He had a Cookie Monster voice. Peach's was the best (remeber she also talked in SM64). Toad's was terrible too. But let's not talk about Sunshine because that game had bigger issues....like Peach not remebering if she had a kid or not.

I was going to come and say "you mean Sunshine has NO issues" but then I saw that.

That always bothered me. Peach being unsure if she actually had a baby blew my mind and changed my view of her forever.

[linkgx1]

Link shouldn't talk. The whole point is that he's supposed to be an avatar of you, despite also being Link. To be honest, they already ripped the "being you" part out of him once they got to TWW and TP with all the facial expressions. They look great, but I no longer feel like I'm the one going on an adventure, I'm just guiding Link.

Link's not an avatar you cannot choose how he looks at all,and he actually has a personality in recent zelda games.

Feels like you only read the first sentence. I made a point to say they totally abandoned the concept by giving Link a vague personality in recent games.

But if you want to argue about Link not being an avatar, you're gonna have to take that up with Miyamoto (though I am hypocritical, as I also think he has no idea what "RPG" means). The whole reason you can name him is because he's supposed to be you, but you're in Link's body.

Not to mention, the main character of Persona 3 and 4 are avatars of you and you have no control over what they look like.

Oh hell naw. The biggest issue with that is they never....tested the voice I don't think. He had a Cookie Monster voice. Peach's was the best (remeber she also talked in SM64). Toad's was terrible too. But let's not talk about Sunshine because that game had bigger issues....like Peach not remebering if she had a kid or not.

I was going to come and say "you mean Sunshine has NO issues" but then I saw that.

That always bothered me. Peach being unsure if she actually had a baby blew my mind and changed my view of her forever.

Lol. Sometimes I wonder what goes through the translators' heads.

[MoldyClay]

Lol. Sometimes I wonder what goes through the translators' heads.

But is that even a translator's issue? That was present in Japan as well, no?

Or do you mean you wonder what they were thinking when they were handed that bizarre information and had to be like "Well... Peach apparently sleeps around and forgets what happens. Thanks Japan"

[DigitalAtlas]

Lol. Sometimes I wonder what goes through the translators' heads.

But is that even a translator's issue? That was present in Japan as well, no?

Or do you mean you wonder what they were thinking when they were handed that bizarre information and had to be like "Well... Peach apparently sleeps around and forgets what happens. Thanks Japan"

Nine months of being drunk, huh?

So my opinion on this matter is simple: Link should never talk. It's not his character, and it's nice projecting slightly on the character whenever he talks.

However, I feel all the characters in Zelda should speak some sort of jibberish ala Midna. It was a perfect fit and gave the text some life, while still making it so the player could use their imaginations. I did enjoy that video of Ghirahim, but it just wouldn't work with every character.