Story or Gameplay?

[AgendaDysphoria]

Which one do you value more?

 

Also, which game has the best story, in your opinion? My choice would be The Last of Us, the character development is absolutely phenomenal!   I love how Joel's actions can play with your morality

[Jayce Dimmer]

Both. If the story is great, but the game plays like your typical MMO? Nah thanks.

 

If the game has all sorts of neat interactions and whatnot, but it has a cliché and badly written storyline (looking at you, Bethesda), it just feels shit.

 

I've always been a sucker for Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny.

[Hitom]

Gameplay. Stories in video games are like stories in porn movies to me.

[Cynical Misanthrope]

Story.

 

Sure gameplay is a big part as well, but it comes down to what type of game I am playing. To mention a few:

SWTOR, has terrible gameplay. But the cinematic conversation and the responses and actions you can pick, makes it at least somewhat okay.

Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Future Soldier, has a terrible story. But the gameplay is okay.

 

So, in more story based games, the story is very important.

But action games, gameplay is very important.

 

[something wicked]

I can stand it as long as the story isn't too bad or stupid, but a bad gameplay really hinder your experience. With the widespread of youtube playthrough, you might as well save some money and just watch people play it instead. Not to mention there isn't even a story for many games, like the games before DQ series and Team Fortress. Although games with bad story will never make it to my top list.

 

The best story I would choose the Megaman Zero series, specifically the last two. It follows up on the tragic hero path from X series without falling to self-pity, and end the series with an epic boss fight and heroic ending.

[XJ347]

Story without a doubt!

 

I only play Skyrim for modding, not because of the gameplay.

 

I played Mass Effect 1 and 2 like 7 times each, then ME 3 ruined the franchise because the story sucked balls at the end. True the game play is better than 1 and 2, but all I remember is the story...

[AgendaDysphoria]

I played Mass Effect 1 and 2 like 7 times each, then ME 3 ruined the franchise because the story sucked balls at the end. True the game play is better than 1 and 2, but all I remember is the story...

 

My thoughts exactly! 

[ToJKa]

Gameplay matters to me more. I'm still playing classic doom, and it's story would fit on a stamp

 

And over 2300 hours of Skyrim, certainly not because of it's stellar writing and amazing quest design, but because properly modded it becomes a pretty good and large hack'n slash dungeon crawler With naughty mods from this site

 

Game with amazing story but annoying gameplay though? Probably will never finish.

[windpl]

In games first comes gameplay.

Branching story choices and ect are part of gameplay.

[Yami X]

Gameplay is always first story is secondary.

[fritz_t_coyote]

In RPGs I want story.  Hell, I'm playing a character in a crappy paperback. 

In action games I want some clever writing and humour.

 

But in both... the gameplay has to work.  It has to fit my subjective opinion of Fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bloodyrose35]

Which one do you value more?

 

Also, which game has the best story, in your opinion? My choice would be The Last of Us, the character development is absolutely phenomenal!   I love how Joel's actions can play with your morality

 

i have to go with story, and i agree with u about The Last of Us, i loved that game and still play it often, gameplay isnt as big as factor for me since if they story cant grab my attention, i usually dont find myself playing it for very long, to this day one of my top favorite games is Final Fantasy 7, and it will prolly stay at the top for a very long time, im also a fan of the Suikoden series, mainly numbers 2 and 4 cause of the storytelling, to me, graphics and gameplay always take a beatseat to story

 

[jxm]

Story...best example for me is Dark Souls. I like the idea of "tough and hard" gameplay and all this,I don't mind

dying all the time, even though some design-decisions are truly absurd...

 

But nevertheless Dark Souls never captivated me, due to the very sterile and unexciting world and story. The atmosphere

of loneliness and despair is good though, but for me I see no purpose, no driving agenda behind my battles. Only some obscure

and rather esoteric mumbo jumbo ...

 

Another thing already mentioned: Mass Effect. Here the gameplay isn't that good, it got worse every new title, but it was the story

that made me excited for every new title...until part three put everything together, yet the big picture looked like a total messed-up

Picasso/Dali-picture - and they promised us a truly beautiful and realistic Da Vinci...the story messed up, the entire game-series messed up

for me...so yes, story all the way....

 

The best story however? Well, it depends. For me a "story" is more than simple "plot". Characters, locations etc are what making a story.

And I actually like the "classic" ones the most. Like Baldurs Gate, Dragon Age Origins, The Witcher is amazing at storytelling. As long as the story,

the world, the chars make me care for them!

 

[Reine]

While I would pick story over gameplay 9 out of 10 times, a game that provides excellent gameplay with little/no story is generally a fun experience as well.

[Lexi SubZero]

Voted story... But to really enjoy a game I need a good gameplay as well. For the best story..I'd pick the whole Legacy of Kain series...Blood Omen, BO2, Soul Reaver, SR2 and LoK Defiance.

[Spectre_15]

Im kind of unsure, as some of my favorite games have nearly no story, or the story isn't the focus of the game and is kind of forgotten about, being easily missed: Super Meat Boy, I Wanna Be the Guy, Sanctum, Doom, Plants vs Zombies, Kurovadis, Megaman, etc.  If these have stories, they're hidden away in text and not outwardly said in-game.  However, games with stories, if the story is bad, it's enough for me to hate the entire game, such as Final Fantasy X.

[Jexsam]

1. Gameplay

2. Replayability

3. Story

4. Graphics

 

In that order.

 

It doesn't matter how good your story is or how pretty your game looks, if I don't like playing it, I won't. I stopped playing Dragon Age: Origins without even finishing it once because I found the gameplay to be just plain bad. Meanwhile I play the hell out of Minecraft, which basically has no story whatsoever.

 

But at the end of the day, story and gameplay both are important aspects of a successful game, and if both of these things are good enough then replayability usually follows. It's graphics I don't understand - what possible benefit does being able to see the grains on a cinder block bring? How is the pores on the fat man's face enhancing your experience? Pretty is nice, sure, but I can't see how anyone can value looks over substance.

 

...then again I'm on a forum where some people use more mods and spend more time making waifu turbo-sluts than playing the game.

[Captain Cobra]

Gameplay, always.  It's much easier to ignore a bad story than it is to ignore bad gameplay, although a good story is always appreciated.

 

I lol'd @ more people choosing story.

[XJ347]

Gameplay, always.  It's much easier to ignore a bad story than it is to ignore bad gameplay, although a good story is always appreciated.

 

I lol'd @ more people choosing story.

 

You really shouldn't demean people who have a different preferences.

 

Those people are dumb because they don't agree with my opinion! (that is effectively what you are saying)

[jxm]

Gameplay, always.  It's much easier to ignore a bad story than it is to ignore bad gameplay, although a good story is always appreciated.

 

I lol'd @ more people choosing story.

 

I am not so surprised, but I think any endresult would be fairly equally divided. And it mostly depends on genre I suppose, and personal preference.

Tetris has no story but addictive and near perfect gameplay...but I'd rather choose a Witcher or Dragon Age to play, despite their "shortcomings" in gameplay (which again is mostly subjective)

 

[ToJKa]

I lol'd @ more people choosing story.

 

Me too, but i'm from the eighties, back when games were impossible (and had no stories, only excuses to go kill stuff) and gamers didn't whine.

Or call themselves "gamers"

 

Not  that i think they are wrong or stupid, just that i don't understand their opinion. Games are for playing while there are much better mediums for storytelling.

[Mumin]

I won't choose because a game doesn't really need a story at all to be good and at the same time it can be equally enjoyable with an interactive story that lacks any proper gameplay components besides exploring.

 

Unskipable cutscenes need to burn in hell though. Especially when between a save point and a tough battle   

[Ghost]

For me its the Story.

 

Sure the gameplay should be acceptable, but I really like games with a good story and background story. As example: ME-Trilogy.

The gameplay is one little aspect in a game for me. If i play a game with good gameplay but a bad or not existing story, then its for me like I "play" with a human without feelings or a brain.  Gameplay is always in second spot for me, because I need a game with a living atmosphere, with a good story and not only a dead walkthrough game without any sense, why you do it and why you have to do it. Story is for me the core of a game.

[Vaelorian]

Wise man once said: "Your icecream can be the tastiest in the world, but it's little comfort if I have to scrape it off the bottom of a waste bucket it with an age-old decapitated head of a dead horse."

That said, I wouldn't want to eat rotten tomatoes, even if I had a diamond encrusted golden fork. A certain balance must be found.

[Hitom]

You can have games withouth a story. You can't have games without gameplay.