Story versus Gameplay

[Malak]

Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

 

[BenSkywalker]

This is a tricky one, and it depends greatly on the particular game.

I enjoy watching Transformers, it isn't for the story by any stretch of the imagination, it is because I like watching giant robots blow shit up. Bad acting, bad script, bad directing, but still fun to watch for me. I also enjoy Citizen Kane- stellar directing, story, directing and cinematography- I don't, however, get to watch giant robots blow shit up

As a game, gameplay is my main concern and they way I would vote. That said, a game with run of the mill gameplay can be carried by a killer story, much as a game with no story can be carried by killer gameplay. I would love it if most games could find a good blend of both(I don't want any story in say, racing games) but when push comes to shove I'll take gameplay.

 

[brblx]

great gameplay carries $10-20 casual games just fine.

for $50-60, i want an experience.

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

 

[brblx]

played any bioware games?

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: brblx
played any bioware games?

Yes. That doesn't change my feelings. The only thing I read in a game is my ammo count.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I don't think you've played many video games

 

[dighn]

Story > gameplay for me. I read novels too but storytelling in games is a different experience because of the interactivity and multimedia presentation. In fact pure game play bores me now unless it's really, really good, but any half-decent plot will at least catch my interest.

Of course, it goes without saying that story + gameplay would be the winning combination.

 

[Sadaiyappan]

Depends on my mood.

 

[chalmers]

I'd like to have both please.

 

[Thraxen]

IMO there's a balance at work. I can ignore a few flaws if the story is engrossing. OTOH I can put up with a bare bones story if the gameplay is great. Although as Chalmers said, I'd rather have both at the same time.

Though I will say that I can put up with a nonexistent story more than bad gameplay. You reach a point where the gameplay is so bad that the game becomes too arduous to continue playing no matter how good the story may be. But you could strip all the story out of a game with great gameplay and I'd likely still play... with some exceptions based largely on genre.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
I don't think you've played many video games

Played, tested, reviewed, and worked on games for 21 years.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

Umm a MMO doesn't count as a true RPG. MMO's don't rely on story to keep people playing like traditional RPG's do.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

you need a good balance of both. oh, and some of us like interactive entertainment, not just passive entertainment.

a game with an awesome story but shitty gameplay sucks.
a game with no story but great gameplay sucks, unless its like pinball or chess.
although, if the gameplay is amazing, the story quality can be forgiven a bit, but usually those games get boring fast.

A game where you can't/don't care about your character sucks

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

you must be one sad individual with no imagination or emotion whatsoever

oh and those "RPGs" where you go on raids and epic loot findings aren't exactly RPGs. MMORPGs can't have a story because EVERYONE playing the game is the hero.

 

[pontifex]

I'm curious as to what games the OP likes

 

[chalmers]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

you must be one sad individual with no imagination or emotion whatsoever

oh and those "RPGs" where you go on raids and epic loot findings aren't exactly RPGs. MMORPGs can't have a story because EVERYONE playing the game is the hero.

The determining factor of a game having a story or not is if there is one individual, centralized "hero" ? MMO's are certainly RPG's...they're a type of RPG. Just like Madden is a type of sports game...a football one.

 

[Dangerer]

Mass Effect had a fucking epic story. Fallout 3 had and Fable 2 had pretty good stories to some extent as well. Stories generally make the game for me as a game. For example Mass Effect was more or less the same all throughout, but I was glued to the storyline and would rate it as one of my favorite games of all time. Been trying to play KOTOR, but it just keeps crashing to desktop on vista.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: chalmers

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

you must be one sad individual with no imagination or emotion whatsoever

oh and those "RPGs" where you go on raids and epic loot findings aren't exactly RPGs. MMORPGs can't have a story because EVERYONE playing the game is the hero.

The determining factor of a game having a story or not is if there is one individual, centralized "hero" ? MMO's are certainly RPG's...they're a type of RPG. Just like Madden is a type of sports game...a football one.

no, but an mmorpg is not conducive to a story. Sure, you can have a back story to the world, but with potentially millions of people playing, you can't have 1 centralized in depth story.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: Dangerer
Mass Effect had a fucking epic story. Fallout 3 had and Fable 2 had pretty good stories to some extent as well. Stories generally make the game for me as a game. For example Mass Effect was more or less the same all throughout, but I was glued to the storyline and would rate it as one of my favorite games of all time. Been trying to play KOTOR, but it just keeps crashing to desktop on vista.

Don't let that discourage you. Fix it, install frigging XP if you have to, cause KOTOR is epic.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

I'll go with gameplay. Most modern JRPGs have terrible, terrible, terrible storylines (the only recent counterexample which comes to mind is The World Ends With You), and yet not only do I keep playing them, but I sink literal days' worth of time into them.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: chalmers

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: Malak
Are you mesmerized by a story enough that you ignore fundamental flaws in gameplay? Or do you try to skip any story as much as possible and go straight to the action?

I buy books to read. I buy games to play.

So are you saying books are for stories, games are for gameplay? Can we take the story out of movies then? I just want awesome moving picture frames. Games are a viable storytelling medium. Unless the gameplay is great, I want a decent story. When you got a good story going, you can make the player do dumb stuff they wouldn't normally enjoy doing in light of the events in the story (RPGs do this all the time).

My memories in RPG's consist of my experience with friends in raids and epic loot findings. I can't remember a damn thing about any script some writer wrote for the game. I have never found a story in a video game compelling in the least.

you must be one sad individual with no imagination or emotion whatsoever

oh and those "RPGs" where you go on raids and epic loot findings aren't exactly RPGs. MMORPGs can't have a story because EVERYONE playing the game is the hero.

The determining factor of a game having a story or not is if there is one individual, centralized "hero" ? MMO's are certainly RPG's...they're a type of RPG. Just like Madden is a type of sports game...a football one.

no, but an mmorpg is not conducive to a story. Sure, you can have a back story to the world, but with potentially millions of people playing, you can't have 1 centralized in depth story.

Most MMO's have a story. Hell EVE's story is updated every day. Not that I ever read/care what goes on in the lives of NPC's. My point is, and this is true in ANY RPG, is that I prefer the story to be real, not written, when it comes to games. I don't want to read about the exploits of such and such when I am sitting at the controls, I want to be such and such doing the epic thing that he did that one time. I couldn't care less about some stupid story a guy wrote for a game. I love my books for that.

Does that make more sense? Are you understanding my perspective now? My communication skills are not quite on par with Tycho.

 

[Sahakiel]

Originally posted by: Malak
Most MMO's have a story. Hell EVE's story is updated every day. Not that I ever read/care what goes on in the lives of NPC's. My point is, and this is true in ANY RPG, is that I prefer the story to be real, not written, when it comes to games. I don't want to read about the exploits of such and such when I am sitting at the controls, I want to be such and such doing the epic thing that he did that one time. I couldn't care less about some stupid story a guy wrote for a game. I love my books for that.

Does that make more sense? Are you understanding my perspective now? My communication skills are not quite on par with Tycho.

MMO's don't have a central storyline. I can't think of a single one with an overarching centralized story. They can't do it because each player is most likely investing different amounts of time which would prevent you from enjoying a single storyline together, thus removing the MMO part.
Instead, all of them have back stories. The player is never directly involved in developing a central plot. For the most part, the player can't develop any storyline in the game because that would automatically exclude the next player to come along. There are few exceptions to this rule and as far as I know, they're pretty weak band-aid patches to boot.
In conclusion, your dislike of MMO's is a logical extension of your viewpoint on stories in games.
Judging by your previous comment equating MMO's to all RPG's, you have never played a single-player RPG.

 

[mugs]

I like a good story, but if a game is good enough I usually want to get back to the gameplay rather than watching cutscenes. I guess I prefer stories that are more integrated with the gameplay.