Are you saying that what works well in one game works well in any game? (That sounds overly broad, but we're talking about RPGs.)

I'm saying that voiced protagonists have never stopped me from role-playing in a video game. I'm fine with Howard speaking his dialog instead of me reading it quietly to myself and NPCs responding to my apparent telepathy. As it was pointed out games have been doing voiced protagonists for at least 10 years now. I personally don't see what all the fuss is about. That was my (Apparently very poorly stated) point.

In any game where you create your own character, I have loathed having a voiced protagonist, that is what I'm saying. In games with detailed, crafted characters it works fine, but even then I don't love it or anything. One of the main reasons Bethesda has been my favorite developer for the past 10 years has IN FACT been because they always had a silent protagonist.

And I never said voiced protagonist = hatred of the game. I liked Mass Effect, but I'd for sure like it more than I did if the protagonist was silent.

This I don't understand. Why would that even be worth your notice? Very often I see posted the statement, "It's a game, if I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch a movie.". If the PC not speaking was an issue for you, then what about the pop-up text floating between the PC and the NPC? This is outside the game; it's the UI.
I have played superb RPGs that were voiced, voiced well, and to good effect ~both with and without a speaking PC, and in none, have I ever thought that the NPC was responding to apparent telepathy.

When the option is selected, the player has read it, and the NPC has heard the statement and responds. There is really no need for the PC to parrot it again ~though that is not the issue. The issue is that if they record it, then that locks the script unless they reschedule a new recording session. But with a text only PC, they can revise the script as much as they want. They are not as hemmed in, having the option to change the details of the PC's dialog at leisure, and if need be, add new NPCs [if voiced, then possibly voiced by anyone that's handy; they don't need to re-hire the principle lead voices to record the changes].

*And of course this allows the player to use whatever voice they wish for the part; and a different voice for their next PC.
When one plays the Witcher again, they are playing Geralt again, and the voice is Geralt's again; but in games that allow unlimited PC variations... The voice is always the same as their last PC. [of the same gender of course]

** Lastly... There is a budget split. They have to pay the lead actors for the PCs; that leaves less for hiring the actors of the NPCs.
The lead roles a huge; they speak to everyone. That costs. Personally, I would prefer of any company, the hiring of more actors for the NPCs. The PC I don't really need to hear; I've read their dialog, and know what they will say. (I'm not watching a movie. ... I thought people here hated cutscenes, By the looks of it, FO4 will have more cutscenes than any other Bethesda game.)

_____

I think that studios made it awkward by showing the silent PC full frame ~saying nothing. Fallout [1 & 2] never had this problem. They took the UI to extremes, and they never show the PC up close.
(And it worked beautifully IMO.)

Sounds like you need an imagination friend.

Have there been any interviews with Courtenay Taylor yet?

Interestingly (or maybe not) the first Saints Row protagonist was silent apart from one cut scene where the player was shown to have a squeaky high pitch voice, they added voice acting in the the second and all following games.....Saints Row 2 was for me superior to the original, not least because the player now had a voice.

On the topic of games which have switched from silent to voiced protagonists, while I can pick faults at the later Dragon Age games the voiced protagonist wouldn't be one of those faults.

Yes, but boy she is giving nothing away...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3GGm4d4k44

Her website has more information about upcoming projects and her reels where you can see a small collection of the roles and characters she’d played. Those characters include Jack from the Mass Effect Trilogy, Amanda Holliday from Destiny, Marla Bales from Dead to Rights: Retribution, Asheara from Diablo III, Ada Wong from the Resident Evil series for three games, Serina the AI in Halo Wars, Arwen in Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Hex from Skylanders, Wonder Woman form Justice League Heroes, and so many more.

I have a visual imagination. It's why I took art electives in school, rather than acting or creative writing ones. I spend lots of time on creating a character's looks, but not their backstory narrative. I'm content to read stories, not write them. Different people enjoy and/or are good at different things.

(I suspect this also ties into the fact that, as a small child, my "what I want to be when I grow up" was general jobs/activities, not specific people. I never imagined myself being a character in a movie or book, or a sports star. Like.... I loved the original Indiana Jones movies, and thought he was a great character. But that lead to childish thoughts of "Want to be an archaeologist" not "Want to be Indiana Jones". Just not how my brain is wired.)

Different people think differently about different things...

I once asked a friend about listening to his favorite music ~in memory, and he said that he couldn't do that. That was a shock for me.

I also spoke with a someone I knew in grade school, who I saw on the bus one day years later; we talked about movies, and I said that a film I'd seen was not as good as the book; and he questioned how a book can be better than a movie; and then exclaimed that books just sat there, words on a page, but that a movie had moving pictures and sound! That was even more of a shock for me.

I know someone who was terrible at Pictionary... because she would naturally/unconsciously draw everything upside down so that those across the table would see it right side up; a commercial portrait artist by trade.

Looking forward to it, especially with Courtenay Taylor.

Well, I understand both sides of the argument. While it certainly takes plenty away from the role playing side of things simply because the voice, at least in the game clips is this kind of generic and boring type of deal that will instantly lock you into.. well, not being the meth headed psychopath rampaging the wastelands but takes it more towards this simplified, movie type of approach. It makes it easier to tie into a story and eliminates many of the pitfalls of trying to tie role playing into a plot. But then again, writing quality has been on the decline with fallout series anyways, so it might result into us not really missing much of the juicy stuff anyways. So, while I find the speaking character a horrible thing for rpg, fallout has (sadly) been going more towards an action shooter anyways since fallout 3 anyways so it could work out for that.

Meh, I was hoping for something more Falllout-centric like Brian T Delaney's interview on that podcast. Hopefully, we'll get a better interview over the coming months.

Thanks for the link though.

Normally I'm worried about Voiced Protagonist but not this time around. Hearing Delaneys interview gives me optimism that it will be different this time around.

Will dialoge be more linear, yes and Alt Roleplays will also be RIP due to this feature. If it improves the writing/immersion then I'm for it but we will see.

What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say blacks aren't people? wow low blow.

Im pretty excited for this too, it's gonna make the game more alive I feel. But I just can't wait to get my hands on it, so voice or not idc!