Should link have a voice? (voice acting)

His random shouts are all I want to hear from the dude.

I wouldn't mind Link having a voice. Though, I think he should be kind of like Mario is. He only says short phrases and no sentences.

I wonder (in the gaming/anime industry) who would give Link the best performance. I'm a voice actor/seiyuu lover (and expert, according to my friend o_O) and I love figuring out speaking voices to match a character that doesn't really talk. All you have to decipher what sounds good is grunt and exclamations. *rubs hands together* Fun, fun.

Originally Posted by Twilight~09

Voice acting for Link: No
Voice acting for the NPC's: Yes

/Thread

This. But I voted for "I Don't Mind." Link could be the character that utters very few words with an Orlando Bloomish voice. You gotta admit that Link's grunts and shouts are getting annoying-- the voice he has doesn't suit him, IMO.

Who knows? Link could have a sexy voice hehehe...

I have no problem with the characters having voices. Especially NPCs. I also don't see it hindering the player being "in the game" if Link had a voice. I've played games like Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia that did have voice acting, and it was fine.

Voice Acting isn't one of the main things I feel needs focusing on if Zelda is to be how I think it should be, though. It's not a big deal either way.

Originally Posted by Shiori

I wouldn't mind Link having a voice. Though, I think he should be kind of like Mario is. He only says short phrases and no sentences.

Imma Link, Imma gonna wiin!

Originally Posted by Eternal Legend

Who knows? Link could have a sexy voice hehehe...

Kinda like: YouTube - The Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace - 45rpm

;P hehe.

No speach for Link, but having other character speak would be great. Not in English, though. Make them speak in Hylian. I mean, Nintendo has already made the Hylian language as a code for Japanese and English a couple of times, why not go all-out and create an entire language for the game?

Originally Posted by Eternal Legend

Who knows? Link could have a sexy voice hehehe...

Yeah! if he sounds sexy just shouting, could you imagine him saying a whole sentence???

Nintendo games suffer from a lack of personality and too much emphasis on "fun." Not that the games aren't fun, it just gets kind of repetitive after awhile when you have characters on-screen that are practically emotionless compared to those with voices in other franchises. It shouldn't be undertaken unless it'll be carried through for the majority of the game or if it won't have a large cast. Prime 3's voice acting seemed kind of pointless and actually mostly gave me hints I didn't solicit for.

yes it would be cool if Link had a voice in the Next Zelda Game wouldn't it.

I always thought Link should have a voice, it kind of got boring to interpret his feelings by watching his expressions or body language. The problem is determining the accent the voice actor would have to provide for the Link voice over. I go with European.

Yeah he does need to shape up a bit since technology cannot reach it's full potential without sound, music and of course voices.

What Link needs to do now it to express himself through speech instead of sign languaging his body all the time. Example: Him making a sad face tells us that he is upset. But why?

Giving him a voice and personality detracts from why Link is called Link (or even moreso, whatever name you want) in the game. He's a link to the player of the game, a voice actor will portray the character in a way that is fitting for them. When we, in a way, speak for him we each give him our own voice and personality.

Plus, I really don't like most game voice actors... I remember playing Resident Evil 4... my god I don't know why people thought that stuff was actually good. That, and we know that he'd end up having a corny American accent, most probably like all those dubbed anime shows out there.

If they can really put production priorities on quality voice acting, then I wouldn't mind seeing a talkie Zelda game... but keep Link grunting and yelling only please

Unless the next Zelda game is an RPG, I have every reason to believe that Link should have voice acting dialogue.

Just don't make him sound gay or anything useless and everyone will pretty much not be disappointed.

Why should a game genre have any impact on whether voice acting should be used or not?

In my opinion, RPG's (in most cases -- especially this one) should be the only genre that have a silent main character. I see no reason for Link to not have dialogue in what little immersion the traditional Zelda game offers. In short, the pro of having good voice acting is much more significantly beneficial then the "pro" to not having voice acting at all.

He should not have a voice.

I wouldn't mind seeing other characters with voice acting, but Link is ment to represent the player (or something along those lines) and having a voice would destroy a very mysterious part of him.

He's always been a mute, and it works well, so I say keep it that way.

Well it doesn't matter if he says a few words right?

You know, if they're gonna have Link mute, they might as well go all the way. I'm personally tired of hearing Link shout everytime I make him swing a sword. He's supposed to be mysterious, but his catcalls ruin his aura. I say, take away all of his shouts, screams and war cries: make him a real mute.

And then they can give some backstory on why he's silent, like he got his tongue ripped out by a Jack-o-lantern, or had his voice stolen by a Harpie.