Would prefer a silent protagonist. [spoilers]

[norwegianboyee]

This was a great game but Simon often brought me out of the immersion. Often i found myself completely immersed in the game until Simon suddenly goes "Lambda can't be that far away right? How big is the ocean anyway? Hue hue!" or "Ok gotta find Theta, shouldnt be too hard!!" "Now i just need to find Omicron!!" I just wanted Simon to shut up so i could feel like i was playing a horror game. I think that's the problem though, this game tries to be a horror game AND some sort of exploration thinking game as well. Often i found myself wishing that it could decide to be one of them instead of trying to mix it all the time. Either i got annoyed by all the talking or i got annoyed by the monsters because they hindered me from properly exploring the beutifully crafted areas.
I wish this game had a silent protagonist or Simon would stop talking to himself and jumpscare-ing me. Also Simon acts completely different from what i would do, which really annoys me and is why a silent protagonist better.

Example 1:
Me: Ok, im going to unplug her... It's far better than her fate right now.
*unplugs her*
Simon: OH FUCK I KILLED HER!??
*facepalm*
Example 2:
Me: Oh... Im stuck down here. Well at least our copies are living on the Ark.
Simon: *Raging*
Me: dude calm down you moron!!

[Romulator]

Personally, I don't think I could cope with a Silent Protagonist, but if Simon said lines which were a bit more... intelligent or of more common sense, I would appreciate him just that little bit more. I mean, most of the voicing when he is by himself is there so that the player knows/remembers where to go and/or what to do - and to be fair, some of us say random, not-so-common-sense based things when we are by ourselves.

But there are definitely times where I wanted it to just be quiet. Just me and the sounds of the environment.

[norwegianboyee]

Personally, I don't think I could cope with a Silent Protagonist, but if Simon said lines which were a bit more... intelligent or of more common sense, I would appreciate him just that little bit more. I mean, most of the voicing when he is by himself is there so that the player knows/remembers where to go and/or what to do - and to be fair, some of us say random, not-so-common-sense based things when we are by ourselves.

But there are definitely times where I wanted it to just be quiet. Just me and the sounds of the environment.

Yeah... Talking to yourself is natural... I'm pretty sure i wouldn't when there are monsters everywhere though.
Also if we need reminders of where to go there is always a memento function, but are people (excluding LP-ers) really that stupid though?

[Mudbill]

There's a memento feature?

[norwegianboyee]

There's a memento feature?

No, i just suggested it as a alternative to the protagonist saying "Well, looks like we are off to find Tau next" to himself for no reason.

[SlackerinDeNile]

I made a similar complaint about the ending a couple of weeks ago, but I completely disagree, Simon is supposed to represent the typical lay-man hero in science-fiction. He's an average guy with only a reasonable amount of education compared to the people who staffed PATHOS-II, of course he's going to overreact to his situation. This is done to justify Catherine's exposition about the nature of SOMA's world and technology.

By the way, SOMA wasn't originally meant to be a full on horror game, clearly you were expecting a spiritual sequel to Penumbra, not that I blame you with the way Frictional ended up marketing it in the end and the way they designed some of the levels and enemies.

[THX1138]

I made a similar complaint about the ending a couple of weeks ago, but I completely disagree, Simon is supposed to represent the typical lay-man hero in science-fiction. He's an average guy with only a reasonable amount of education compared to the people who staffed PATHOS-II, of course he's going to overreact to his situation. This is done to justify Catherine's exposition about the nature of SOMA's world and technology.

By the way, SOMA wasn't originally meant to be a full on horror game, clearly you were expecting a spiritual sequel to Penumbra, not that I blame you with the way Frictional ended up marketing it in the end and the way they designed some of the levels and enemies.

Exactly. Not only was he apparently of average intelligence in the first place but he'd been brain damaged in an accident. People expect too much of the character.

[CrashHeadroom]

All I will say, is without a voice to the character then the end would lose every piece of emotional impact...

[boredgunner]

SOMA is nearly perfect the way it is, it relies on a voiced protagonist and wouldn't work without it. Likewise I wouldn't change this aspect of Amnesia or Penumbra either.

[Barraka]

I tend to prefer silent protagonists for the same reasons listed in the first post, but as mentioned above some of the main scenes in the game would not have the same emotional impact without a voiced protagonist.