And then in other dialogues that are theoretically more neutral and can be taken multiple ways, we have to assume what tone the character is going to have, no matter what we interpret a line as indicating. A line that can seem like a playful joke could be delivered really harshly and outright mean. At least without a voiced protagonist we can accept that however an NPC is interpreting our words, it's down to them in part, not purely how our character said it.
I also think you're overestimating just how limited we are with an unvoiced protagonist. Currently, If my sorcerer character wants to keep saying to Gale that sorcerers are better than wizards, I can picture that being just a running tease, a joke between the two of hem. If it was voice acted though, I have no doubt Larian would have those lines be delivered like a pompous jackass who genuinely believes it.
But you're still limited by how the writer chooses other characters to respond to these things.
If Larian decided that any unvoiced dialogue regarding Sorcerers being better than Wizards would be delivered as a pomous jackass, then Gale would respond to your character as if they were a pompous jackass irregardless of how you headcanoned it to be. EXACTLY as if it was voiced.
In the end, no matter voiced or not, you're subject to how the writers make the lines because of how characters respond to them.
I can't pick one of the Barbarians intimidate lines and headcanon that I'm actually just teasing someone when the end result is the person on the receiving end trembling in fear.
But silent rpg protagonist work too
Of course, silent protagonsts can work.
I personally believe they're simply inferior to well done voiced protagonists.
I'm far, far too tired of the cardboard cutout dialogue scenes that have plagued the RPG genre for decades. It's utterly unrealistic and takes away from the experience. Also, unlike days of yore, there's no technical limitation causing it (Back when games were contained on a single disc or cartridge, there was space limitations preventing a bunch of extra voiced dialogue being added).
It's notable that as soon as dragon age went fully voiced, their protagonists got much more defined backstories. Because that's something a game has to do if it's going to be fully voiced, so that the character can be defined.
Not really. Dragon Age went for defined backstories because it fit their narrative. I.e. Instead of having to create multiple different backgrounds in DA2 they simply made you a human with human parents and a human sibling who gets murderized. (It's worth noting that DA:I went back to generic character allowing multiple races just with a "I've lost muh memories" trope)
Further, how are you going to make it feel natural for a barbarian and a wizard to say the same lines the same way?
The same way games have been for literally years, including Larian's prior titles?
Allowing options of different types of voices which will come with their own styles of dialogue (Usually having something like a "Rough" voice for your gruff Barbarian/Fighter types, your well educated noble voice for your Mage types and some sort of sly roguish voice for your Rogue/Ranger types)
Or, better yet, incorporate Solasta's personality selection. Allowing you to tune a voice/dialogue to specific archetypes (I.e. Sarcastic, cocky, aggressive, shy etc).
DA2 and DAI get around this with differing tone options and making background more significant than class, but in BG3 we have so many classes and possible backgrounds. Just by virtue of those, you create too many possible personalities to create a voice for.
You act as if every particular pairing of class and background needs a singular unique voice.
While in reality, the only thing that is necessary is voices to match backgrounds. Just because someone is a Wizard, doesn't mean they suddenly developed a "Wizard" accent. Dialect and accent is determined by background, not class. The only thing that is class relevant, is the class specific dialogue options which is a simple as having whatever VA is doing the lines for the chosen voice option, to record those class lines too.
So if there's a scholarly voice type, it will work for anyone who has a scholar background (Or is roleplaying a character that has received an education, such as a Noble or even an Acolyte) - This can be for someone's Barbarian just as much as a Wizard, depending on how someone is roleplaying their character (For example, if I decided I wanted to play a Barbarian who was a noble that received an education but just happened to develop rage powers, I can opt for a suitable voice. Just like I could use an aggressive voice for a Githyanki Wizard who was raised as a warrior)
