Your Honour, My Client Chooses to Stand Mute

by Matthew Scribner

There are many ways to tell a story: Movies, novels, plays. Perhaps video games will one day be universally accepted into this fine list. Of course, all stories must have a main character, a trend you won't find me complaining about. What I like best about main characters is that I can often find a bit of myself in them. Who has not found themselves unable to make a decision due to a Hamlet-like personal conflict? Or who has not had an unwanted responsibility thrust on them, like Hazel in Watership Down?

Another thing you can add to the list of things I like are role-playing games. Definitely the superior genre of video games. I like them because you get to control a character through an extraordinary adventure. Unlike most video games, where the level is the same no matter how you play, an RPG gives you the chance to make choices for the character, to put your morals and opinions into the character. Why, I guess that's why they call it a role-playing game, isn't it? It's sometimes nice, then, when the character doesn't detract from the effort you put into him or her by saying something stupid every thirty seconds.

I believe it can be agreed upon that a good RPG needs a good story. Final Fantasy X, for instance, has a great story. Indeed, its story was so great that its developers decided to tell it with many long sequences and few battles in between. For this reason and others, Tidus had to be able to speak and participate actively in dialogue. Yes, Tidus (or "Matt," as I chose to call him) often made many trite remarks such as "I didn't know it then, but..." or "Let's blitz!" or "This is my story!" Yes, Tidus, it is your story. But it wasn't quite the story I had in mind for "Matt."

Don't get me wrong. The "Silent Bob" approach often leaves a lot to be desired as well. The lack of dialogue can make a story line stagnant or confusing, especially if the other party members are tight-lipped as well. Yet having a silent character means you will be more involved with him or her. It means you have to make more choices about how the character responds - there's your dialogue right there. The character becomes almost whomever you want him or her to be, with your own inner monologue filling in. That's what so great about these games. You get to use your imagination. That what makes it a game to begin with, not a story that gives you the privilege of pushing buttons during the tale. ("Whoops! Kimahri would have used a Phoenix Down on Yuna before trying to take out that enemy. Please try again.")

I've always ticked "story line" on surveys about what is most important for me in a video game, and I'm happy to see developers such as Square take note. Yet they might as well start up their movie making operation again if they're going to keep taking away choices from gamers. Choices about what your character says, what their name is - or which character is your favorite, and the one you want to consider your main, like in Final Fantasy VI? What was wrong with that strategy?

RPGs are a great technological (and dare I say it - artistic?) medium for programmers to express themselves. Their job is to create an experience more engrossing and enjoyable (in my opinion) than any movie around. They are the experts, not us, and it is their professional and artistic choice whether they want to have the main character speak or not. Both ways are functional strategies, but I hope the goal of stimulating a player's imagination and enhancing their involvement remains.