Fable III to Do Away with Silent Hero

The Fable franchise has become known for having a (mostly) silent hero. While the player character would make some noises during expressions through the first two games, he/she never spoke. But while I was playing the combat demo of Fable III this weekend, I noticed something.

The hero in the demo, a noticeably evil-leaning male character, held a few short conversations with his companion. Most of it was just responses to x question or y event, but the fact that the character spoke at all (which happened only during cutscenes, if I remember correctly) is a new and unexpected turn for the series. Fable II even went so far as to have characters directly mention the hero's silence.

While this is not unprecedented by any sense of the word, it is new for this franchise. Over the previous two games, it's easy for gamers to have become accustomed to their characters' silence. But now there's a new element to the storytelling that I hope will only serve to improve it. Let's just hope that we won't wish they'd never opened their mouth.