Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Voiced Protagonist

I mean all of the above. And it's absolutely NOT a reach. Just because YOU don't have those issues doesn't mean many others don't. I've flat out said as much. I also said above that there are subtitles for ALL of the dialogue, so yes, if you don't want voice acting turn the damn sound off. Don't demand OUR enjoyment and accessibility be removed just because YOU don't believe that our preferences and accessibility needs matter.

You are quite descriptively proving my point about who you think matters dude.

You are presenting yourself as a bit too hostile in a conversation about a video game, there are many other things that matter more than this. The people I know with vision issues either decide not to play games or they adapt and work around said issues without complaining about them. There are medical/psychological issues with sound that are just as valid as your vision issues. I have played so many games with sound off (if I am lucky, I can have environmental sounds on) due to this and it sucks but I do not ask that developers fix the game just for me.

For the voiced protagonist here, since the voice is only being added I do not see why everyone can't have what they want.

LOL and telling someone with lived experience that they are "stretching" or "complaining" because their preferences and needs aren't the same as someone else's isn't 'hostile'.
It's so very easy to label someone as hostile when we're left out of 99% of human interaction because it's "just ...". Unless you are in our shoes, please don't fob off the right to participate fully in society as 'hostile'. Trust me, I wasn't being hostile, I was matching the energy of the hundred other answers to people who have expressed the same thing I just did.

We've been told over and over and over in every aspect of life (and in this thread) that our desires and needs don't matter. I'm absolutely unashamedly saying THEY DO.

I'm stating loudly and unashamedly that people's NEEDS are - bluntly - more important than the loud majority's aesthetic preferences.

The fact is, we shouldn't HAVE to "decide not to play". That's not a decision, that's an insurmountable problem that we're 'giving up' on. That's like saying we should 'give up' on going to the doctor because the only clinic in 100 miles won't install ramps and you're stuck in a wheelchair. It's like saying you "choose not to" go to a park because it's more aesthetically pleasing to have multilevel gardens and no seating just because you have a bad back.

People NEED recreation as much as they need food and medical care. It's NOT indulgence, it's a human right. Exclusion and marginalisation is as damaging as the disability itself. That's what you are all saying we should just 'deal with' for the sake of aesthetics. And what truly grinds my gears is that we're NOT EVEN SAYING you all can't have your walls of text and silent protag. We're saying that being inclusive is A GOOD THING. Options are a GOOD THING. It doesn't have to be all or nothing from our end. It's the people who are only dealing with aesthetic preferences who are saying WE don't matter.

I have been told this type of stuff many times in my life and depending on the circumstance is whether I will get hostile or not. I do not find optional things worth stressing about, for instance if a game is released in FP only, I simply ignore it since I can only play third person games due to motion sickness and migraines. I would not complain that they must change it to suit me, it is only a game. This is why I am not understanding your tone, this game was released with the silent protagonist. The things I will get hostile about are those that will cause me serious medical issues or death. I am in no way trying to dismiss your issues but how you present them is what makes people stop listening.

Ok, you edited your post while I was typing my response



There is a big difference between a game and a ramp. There are many games out there you can play if this is the only recreation you feel you can do. Same goes for me with the issues I have. Most of us are not saying you can't have your voiced protagonist, since they said they are already adding it we are simply asking for the option to turn this off. Options should make everyone happy.

And like I said, I am "presenting" my arguments with the exact same energy and tone as the people who are telling me I should just suck it up. If you read back through the thread, you'll clearly see (as I've already stated multiple times) that I have NEVER said don't incorporate both options. I am saying that the devs themselves have said that it will be a voiced protagonist. I am saying that the people who are demanding that this BE REMOVED FROM THE GAME are being unreasonable. I'm saying that if the devs saw fit to include options for both then that is a GOOD THING.

I'm now also saying that just because you are happy to be excluded from recreational activities because they 'don't matter' doesn't mean the rest of us are. Accessibility is A RIGHT, not a privilege. This extends to recreational pursuits as well as food and shelter and health care. Just because an activity is for fun, doesn't make it unworthy, if it did why does ANYONE play them - especially in the middle of a global crisis when every human on the planet needs to be able to relax in their own homes.

I realise it is hard to properly get the exact tone of a point across in a forum text but your posts seem a bit hostile and some responses you got are going to be the same due to this. This accomplishes nothing. Asking for accessability options is a good thing but people listen more when they do not feel attacked.

I never said I was happy with being excluded. I just simply do not see the point of being confrontational about it if it is not life threatening.

But thats exactly what you are doing to people who want Silent Protagonist.


If you want voice acting read out the line with your own verbal apparatus. See? We can be selfish too.

Mass Effect didn't have a blank slate though. The voice acting worked because you were Commander Shephard.Blank slates simply dont work with voiced protagonists, and in fact, voiced protagnoists are a plague, that are used as an excuse to have fewer option when it comes to dialogue choices. Look at Dragon Age Origins and how many ways you can react and compare it to the number of options you have in DA2 (mostly 3 option). Also in DA:O, your main character didn't get much cameratime, which made the game less narcissistic.
Voice acted protagonists and dialogue wheel are a plague on RPG.
I simply must have the silent protagonist option and I demand that Larian doesn't even consider contemplating the dialogue wheel.


Yeah I agree with you. Voiced protagonists have to go, not only because they will never represent a wide variety of ethnic voices (I'm mongolian), but also because even if they did, it would still be immersion breaking due to improper intonation or other issues with voice. Furthermore, a voice is inevitably a personality trait. If you give someone voice you've impersonated them and that is my job as a player, not the game developer's job. Larian must listen to this and at the very least give us the silent protagonist option (combined with vastly reduced camera-time focusing on the MC).
Origin characters can be voiced, that's fine.

"But thats exactly what you are doing to people who want Silent Protagonist."

No, no it's not. I'm saying AGAIN... I believe that extra options are always good to make the game accessible to as many people with disabilities and general preferences as possible. I have NEVER said don't have a text driven silent character. I have said over and over that people who DO want that despite what has already been confirmed by the devs should maybe (oh the irony here) play another game if the option to have a silent option isn't there. I think that making the game UNPLAYABLE for many people isn't worth improving superficial aesthetics for a few people who think it's unreasonable to have BOTH options.


So, even if it was what I was saying, like I've said 'till I'm blue in the gods damned face, it's "need for accessibility" v's "wwaaaaaaah I don't like it". You see the difference there?
On the one hand "actually can't play it because it's actively excluding a corner of the market" v's "I can't be bothered spacebaring, and I could easily turn down the voices but I don't wanna 'cause then I can't hear the voices I don't want to hear in the first place".

Yhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Voice protagonist is not a player choice or an accessibility option. It’s a design choice. A design choice which will have an impact on the whole of the game, no matter if you put the sound on or off. It’s not a “superficial aesthetic” - at the very least it dictated how PC is defined, presented and characterised. Something that might be fairly irrelevant in most game genres, but is the centre piece of “a role playing game” - a genre which revolves around creating and defining your own character, in a pre-made adventure. Designing around pre-recorded voice has an impact on the core concept of the game - for better or for worse.

And yes, as a player I don’t much care for making game more accessible to other players. It doesn’t mean that Larian shouldn’t care, but for me, someone who considers buying Baldur’s Gate3 for myself, the biggest concern is whenever I will want to play BG3 or not. I have more respect for focused experiences, even if those aren’t for me. On the other hand, I can’t stand Jake of all Trades - games which try to do it all, and do none well. If you want a game with pre-defined PC then go for it. If you don’t - don’t. Aiming in he middle will be just disappointing from either side.

No offence, but if you're serious it sounds like your issues have nothing with a game being voiced or not.

minimizing someone's request for accessibility makes you sound like a chud, and this weird victim blaming you're doing makes me really worried for the state of the game knowing people like you get to 'provide feedback' by coming on the forums telling folks their feedback is bad when all that's happened here is a request for more accessibility

This really ain't it chief.

What is a chud? Is it a slur? If so, you should stop because it's against the rules to call someone a slur.
What is victimblaming? Why is it that only people who ask for voiced protagonist are the victims, when in fact it is people who want a silent protagonist who are being marginalized? Larian already promised a full VO, so if anything, people who want a silent MC are the victims here.
Also I agree with Zarna, both you and the other person are very hostile, rude, accusatory and inflammatory and you should stop.

I can only think to explain this with another example. Some years ago, a parent had a son with a peanut allergy, she was upset that a restaurant in her area used peanut oil so she complained about it because it was not fair that some could not eat there. She might even have wanted them shut down, can't remember the whole story. People jumped on her about it, including people with peanut allergies. The other side of this would be a restaurant where I used to work had a customer with a gluten allergy who came in a lot. She was very polite and always came in at a slow part of the day, we were happy to clean everything well and open up new stuff to make sure she didn't get any gluten contaminants in her food.

Not sure how any of what I said would be called victim blaming, not seeing that word having any relevance to the conversation really. I was simply trying to say that much like a single restaurant, a single game is not worth getting worked up that much about. I would rather have enough options to make as many people happy as possible but getting angry and demanding things (on both sides of an argument) gets nowhere.

Do you even know what you are talking about? You argue about accessibility, but silent protagonist get kicked under the bus. You try to speak as if you are a group of people to intimidate others, but that is not happening "dude". So you might as well drop that. You talk about options, but what you really mean is you want a particular group to sit on everyone else because what? You pity someone? If you really wanted options you wouldn't have breeze past my suggestion for a separate mode like a headless chicken. You would have at the very least mentioned it.

Have you ever even met someone with a disability? The last thing they need is pity. You don't want to add options. You want to tip the imaginary scale in your head to make yourself feel better. Stop projecting guilt on to others. You come off as naive, emotionally reckless, and disrespectful to the very people you "think" your helping as well as everyone else struggling to be civil with you.

Hell you already admit you don't value people equally and are fighting for what ever "side" you come up with in your head. Options are to bring everyone together to have a good time. You 100 percent clearly don't want that. So I'm done with you. You do you.

Where are you getting that I don't respect people equally when... Let me repeat it AGAIN... I'm the one arguing to have the game both voiced AND silent so EVERYONE can enjoy it.

Thank the gods this forum has an ignore option. You all are showing your bigotry. 🙄

I'll be the judge of that, thank you. But in general terms, don't.

The discussion is getting rather heated on various fronts. Please cool it down a little, folks.

First off, this game is amazing and I cannot wait for the full release after playing through the early access several times.

The character models are gorgeous, the acting and facial expressions are amazing, there is just one thing missing.

I understand that it is an artistic decision to not have your main character speak during dialogues. However, with how amazing the voice acting is with all of the other characters, not having your main character speak becomes a big awkward hole.

As it is, your character’s voice is barely heard (during only a few cutscenes and exploration) so you essentially feel like you are playing a silent protagonist like in games like Halo, Bioshock, or Doom which is not the feeling you want from a game that is based off of D&D.

While I imagine that this choice to have your lines silent is likely because the “players voice” is supposed to speak through, when every other character is so beautifully crafted and detailed, it leaves much to be desired when you just want the same for your own character.

How many time are we going to get this exact same thread?
What about searching for pre-existing discussions before starting a new topic, for a change?

I was under the impression -- although I could be quite wrong here-- that the intention is to have the main character fully voiced by the end of development, its just not fully implemented yet. What with all the voice options there are, that's a lot of lines to deal with adding in at the current stage of early access. I also wouldn't be surprised if the devs wanted to collect some Feedback on the subject since some people seem to want silent protag entirely, but thats just my guess. Am curious if there are any official words on it that I've missed.

The one cutscene I came across where my character actually spoke in response to something (with camera actually up close on him) I admit threw me off a little but I wouldn't hate having the whole game be like that.