Would prefer a silent protagonist. [spoilers]

[Yuhaney]

I guess it really depends on the game itself. Sometimes I am completely fine with a silent protagonist. I know this sounds like a repetition of Petike but I share similar thoughts very strongly about the same games.

I don't like silent protagonists in games that have mediocre to deep story line like Half-Life, Crysis 2, Battlefield 4, you name it... It works in games like DOOM, Super Mario Bros., Bubble Bobble, any crafting survival game and whatever else where the game is based mostly on the gameplay, rather than a deep emotional story.

While playing Half-Life 2, I can't but to think that why should I care so much? I feel awkward towards these characters that show huge emotion towards me by hugging and cheering when I come at their holdout. I feel like a floating camera that everyone talks to and - "hey, now I have a gun". This gun is now supposed to make me feel like an individual in the universe? I'm sorry, but this doesn't work for me. Gordon never says a word or gives a thought (or shit, if you prefer). Everyone else just tells Gordon (or me) what to think in any given situation. I guess that's why I liked Freeman's Mind. Gives at least one point-of-view what he could have been thinking. They are probably trying to make it that "you are the character, and what you feel the character feels", but it doesn't work for me. Of course I feel all the other things, but I don't feel the protagonist itself. That's the problem for me. It creates a situation where I love the game, its universe, characters and the over all atmosphere but hate the protagonist. That's not good hate either because it's for all the wrong reasons.

Penumbra didn't have voice acting for the protagonist but I still felt him because I could right click to see his thoughts on the object or subject I'm looking at. With Amnesia they added voice acting for notes and flashback cutscenes while still keeping the non-voice acted dialogue between me and the character. SOMA I can't say anything about because haven't played it yet. I also like how old Thief games do the protagonist, just like Petike.
Another thing I've always liked is how some RPGs make discussions between the protagonist and NPCs. You talk to someone and game gives options to choose from. Then these characters have the chosen dialogue. However, some games do it wrong although it's not the worst. I don't like it when you choose something to say and the protagonist then says nothing while the NPC on the other hand is fully voice acted and reacts to what you chose. It seems like the protagonist has to be on an equal level with rest of the characters in terms of interaction.