Following on from the popularDestinyfirst released in 2014,Destiny 2expanded the previous game’s shared-world environment and leveled up the activities on offer, as well as improving other features. With consistent seasonal updates and post-launch support,Destiny 2has continued to provide more content for players and advance the game’s core story through major expansions. While these updates and expansions often bring with them changes and overhauls toDestiny 2’s gameplay and mechanics, one of the slightly stranger and admittedly inconsistent updates was the addition of a voice for the playable Guardian.
Destinyfeatured six voice actors that portrayed the Guardian, each representing a gender/race combo like an Exo male or Awoken female. Although the playable protagonist technically did have a voice, it featured sparingly and didn’t do much to convey the character of the Guardian. The game was well-received, but some ofDestiny’s aspects were criticized, and the voice acting came under scrutiny. Peter Dinklage — the voice of Ghost — was evenreplaced by Nolan Northafter his performance was described as one-note and repetitive. Bungie decided to move away from portraying a Guardian with a voice inDestiny 2, except for one or two notable exceptions which have baffled and confused fans.
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Giving A Voice To The Guardian
For the majority ofDestiny 2— and up until therelease ofDestiny 2: Forsakenin 2018— the Guardian that gamers play as is mute. Whereas the Guardian inDestinyhad a few sporadic lines of dialogue, Bungie chose to move away from this completely during the sequel’s first year. However, this decision was again reversed inForsaken, as the previously silent Guardian finally speaks up after the death of longtimeDestinyNPC and ally Cayde-6. This emotionally charged and story-defining moment duringForsakenwas the perfect time for the Guardian to finally find their voice as they vow vengeance, but it seems strange to introduce so long after the game’s launch.
In addition to this momentous moment, the Guardian does have a few sparingly used linesthroughout other expansions likeShadowkeep, but the inconsistency and infrequency of such interactions beg the question of why they have been included at all. Using voices only a handful of times in key moments (such as Cayde’s emotional death) does help to give them gravitas and helps with their overall impact. However, when they’re so infrequent, it can feel jarring for players when mostly voiceless characters suddenly speak, and it could undermine the emotional weight that developers are trying to achieve for certain cutscenes and key moments.
As an online-only game, having amostly silent playable character does work inDestiny 2’s favor. Players will be more focused on talking to their friends and/or fireteam than they would be on listening to their character comment on the action. Having a talkative Guardian could be at best a distraction, and at worst an annoyance, if it was implemented more widely, and some players may be glad that their character is mostly mute.
The Case For A Mute Protagonist
Whether or not a game has a chatty protagonist can be a divisive issue for gamers, with people usually falling on one side of the argument or the other. On the one hand, having asilent protagonist likeHalf-life 2’s Gordon Freemancan help players to fully immerse themselves in the gameplay and story without the distraction of random character dialogue. Players can project themselves (or their own version of a character) on the silent protagonist without lines of dialogue and various quips getting in the way. When a game’s writing is slightly clunky this also helps players to stay in the action instead of focusing on the awkward interactions or comments on the environment.
However, many gamers prefer to play as characters with a voice and feel like this helps to add layers to a game and encourage emotional connections. In the first installment of theDragon Ageseries, the main character didn’t have a voice.
This felt unbalanced and strange in a game that relies on party banter and interactions between characters to create connections, as well as a lore-heavy fantasy game where the story is mostly revealed through dialogue.Dragon Age IIgave the protagonist Hawke a voice, and this definitely made the romance scenes much less awkward and bizarre.Dragon Age: Inquisitionadded even more customizationand even voice options for players to choose between, improving the role-playing elements and the game overall.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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