I pretty much made an account to reply to this topic because I found so interesting. First of all I do like Silent protagonists a lot more than I like talking ones, especially when there are "boring main likable ones" as you described. This a little hard to describe but i'll try my best I guess the big problem with someone silent is that it is very VERY easy to forget that they are "part of the story" they do things and beat the bad guys while the rest of the cast sits on the sidelines cheering and advancing the plot. Most of the time when a silent protagonist has to say something the screen will go black and it'll say "_____ explained what was happening" which basically means they have a voice they just don't have personality which is terrible, it's the job of the world, the choices the game gives you(seen and unseen) and the other characters to give your character a personality and since it's something you shaped with the game its way more immersive then a pre-set main character. silent protags are great in scenarios of humor especially if you establish early on that their silence is a weird thing, if no character ever brings it up the game and the player will likely forget about it. And in a dramatic story actions speak louder than words, giving the main character a choice to confront the main villain now or going to get reinforcement is more immersive to me than any "I'll defeet u than save da wurld" dialogue that I would never say in real life. Really I just think people don't use silent characters to their fullest potential especially since they are so moldable.