- Amethyst
- 1 May, 2025
Silent Protagonists and Emotional Connection
RPG’s have always used silent protagonists. It’s not the only choice, but it often serves as a tool for player connection. In this case, we zoom in on the Suikoden series.
Particularly in its first two games, the silent protagonist is an example of this storytelling technique to connect players to the game.
Let’s take a look at the character depth of Suikoden’s protagonists!
The Power of Silence in Suikoden I & II
The protagonists in Suikoden I and Suikoden II remain silent throughout the game, never having any form of dialogue of their own. Only choice prompts allow you to make a decision on what your character can say or do based on storyline branches. While many see silence as a limitation, its intentional design makes players step into the shoes of the protagonist. It allows the player to project own emotions, personality and decisions onto the main character.
In the end it enhances emotional investment and playtime into the game. It brings you back to certain games that you grow up with or have a deep emotional or personal connection to. It makes you invest more into the game and notice new details in each new playthrough.
The protagonist in Suikoden I is right in the centre of a massive war and all kinds of political unrest. Tir McDohl has a quiet nature of his own. This means that you connect with him through actions and decisions that you make. Not because of occasional dialogue or storytelling. The decision making lies in forming alliances, recruiting new characters or battling new enemies. The game makes sure that you are able to shape whatever the response will be. Tir’s silence forces you to engage with the story. You are the one that defines what happens to the protagonist of the story, and its interaction with other characters throughout the game.
More Emotional Investment in Suikoden II
The concept of the silent protagonist is taken much further in Suikoden II. While you remain silent, the complexity of whatever goes on around you, adds a lot more depth into the role, compared to Suikoden I. The friendship with Joey Atreides, is significant in shaping the emotional rollercoaster of the life that your main character (Riou) has. The silence does not make him less of a character. It offers more of a blank canvas to paint on and offers a deeper sense of relationship, as the narrative unfolds before your eyes.
Protagonists who are silent are not empty. They have personality and they evolve personally and in the relationships they engage with. In Suikoden with 107 other characters, you cultivate the relationships with your family members, new allies and friends you come across on the road to victory.
This method of character development is not the most used, but in Suikoden it highlights the quality of a unique form of emotional investment. Your personal connection to the protagonist is not just built through words, but through actions and decisions.
From Silence to Speech: The Shift in Suikoden III
Gaming always evolves and the Suikoden series has no less. With the evolution of platforms, game engines, graphics and sound, the series embraces a shift from silent protagonists to more complex heroes with personalities and voices. For Suikoden, that starts with Suikoden III.
This change introduces new narrative depth, with each protagonist given a voice and background, tied to the perspectives of the other main characters. It marks an evolutionary shift in RPG storytelling, reflecting the genre’s trend towards more complex and multi-dimensional protagonists.
The Trinity Sight System: Multiple Voices, One Story
You experience not one protagonist, but three at the same time. They all have their own perspective on the story. You meet Hugo first. He’s a young Karayan clan member. There’s Chris Lightfellow, the formidable knight from Zexen. Geddoe is a charismatic mercenary captain. Out of the three, Geddoe is the least vocal, resembling past protagonists best. The “Trinity Sight System” allows players to adventure through events from different perspectives, witnessing misunderstanding, alliances being forged, and rivalries that shape the world. This would not work without unique voices and deeper motivations. Silent protagonists would bomb any hopes of Suikoden III being a good game.
You don’t witness anything through decisions or actions in III, but you witness it through spoken dialogue. You get to learn more about the protagonists and learn that they are not superheroes, but flawed individuals. Making difficult decisions resonate on a personal level, inside and outside the game.
Complex Heroes for Modern Storytelling
The shift towards complex heroes with distinct voices, allows the series to maintain unique storytelling while aadapting to changing player expectations. Black and white character personalities no longer work. All aspects of life have to be included. Whether it’s happiness, sadness, fear or anger. The feeling that it’s a start-to-finish game has changed as well. The series always has multiple endings in store, depending on the choices you make and the more investment you put into it. The move towards spoken main protagonists contributes to the overall enjoyment, adding layers of realism and complexity. This continues to captivate players with a range of emotions, just like the protagonists.
The Return to Silence in Suikoden IV
In Suikoden IV, the series goes back to a silent protagonist. This time, the creators use a darker and a more diffcult personal journey. Players control Lazlo, a young man burdened by the Rune of Punishment. Lazlo’s personal story is one of survival and self-discovery. The silent protagonist technique allows players to feel the personal weight of the cursed Rune of Punishment. Projecting Lazlo’s thoughts and emotions onto players makes it more realistic. This darker storyline gives players a different experience from earlier installments. Without spoken words, the negative atmosphere is captured in great essence.
A Balanced Voice: The Prince in Suikoden V
Suikoden V presents a vocal though restrained protagonist. The Prince of Falena, Freyjadour, has the most intense story of all protagonists in Suikoden in my opinion. His journey is tied to his royal duties and family ties. In contrast to Lazlo who stems from a royal family without knowing, the Prince is aware a noble background. He is driven by loyalty and honour towards his parents and sister. This displays a different type of RPG protagonist; a protagonist bound by loyalty, but forced to face personal hardship.
The Prince remains a grounded and morally steady figure throughout the hardships. This allows players to feel connected with the Prince and involved in his decisions. His personal growth comes through political intrigue, grieve the loss of his parents, and his responsibility to save his sister. He is aided by many, but also hindered by the various forces weighing on his mind. At the end of the game, you find that he has grown to be an intelligent and ethical person.
An Evolving Legacy of Protagonists
Through the protagonists of Suikoden III, IV, and V, the evolution in the Suikoden series is branded. It has created heroes with varying depths and complexities. This displays that RPG protagonists can adapt to different storytelling styles. With these different styles, it is still possible to draw players into meaningful and emotional journeys.
Final Thoughts: The Heart of a Great RPG Series
The Suikoden series sets many benchmarks when it comes to RPGs. One of them is character development by presenting evolving protagonists in personality and storytelling techniques.
Every game presents its own protagonist(s) with unique characters and. The protagonists in every game don’t guide players through the narratives and stories. They also inspire emotions like empathy, introspection. With that, they create an intense connection with the game’s world and lore.
The legacy of the Suikoden protagonists highlight both the appeal of silent and vocal protagonists. Each story stands as a testament to the power of character-driven storytelling in RPGs. It illustrates quiet heroes with emotional personalities and vocal heroes with balanced personalities. Any installment can leave an intense mark on players’ hearts, just like it does with Suikoden II and IV for me.
The series proves that great protagonists are not defined by the words they speak, but by the journeys they lead the players through. Those journeys continue to resonate across generations.
As the remasters of Suikoden I & II are released, we remember the original release in 1995. Thirty years later, the games still resonate. Any successful RPG series like Final Fantasy or Tales of.. thrive on the emotional investment into the game’s main character(s) and the overall story.
The story of the game and emotional attachment to the main character(s) is the success factor of any long-standing RPG series.
Which RPG still gives you emotional thoughts?
Let us know in the comments which game still spark emotions in your heart!
