Does anyone else care more about story than gameplay?

[StaceyPowers]

Does anyone else care more about story than gameplay?

I find that when I play games, my considerations go like this:

1-Story and characters

2-Setting and atmosphere

3-Gameplay

If story, characters and atmosphere are solid enough, I almost don’t even care about gameplay (it’s a plus if it’s really great, but it’s not a deal-breaker if it isn’t). I think this is kind of odd though, since it seems like most gamers rank it as high or higher in importance than other considerations. But I’m not sure that’s actually true, or if that’s just the impression I get from reading posts.

Obviously this applies to single player games most. If I’m playing a multiplayer game, I have other considerations, and gameplay is much higher (or even on top).

What is most and least important to you in a game?

@LadyDay @Bravosi @The Blackangel @DylanC @UleTheVee @skyfire @SpaceExplorer @Executor Akamia @xXInfectedXx @kingpotato

Edited May 19, 2019 by StaceyPowers

[DylanC]

For the most part, I'm the inverse of you, in that I always feel think that gameplay is king in my video games. That said, I can totally get into narrative-focused games, if they've got a great story and interesting characters. Put it this way, I don't mind if a game has amazing gameplay and a terrible story, but if the game has terrible gameplay and an amazing story, I find it much harder to slog through. I kinda feel like a great story is additive in video games imho. Interesting topic, though!

[StaceyPowers]

11 minutes ago, DylanC said:

For the most part, I'm the inverse of you, in that I always feel think that gameplay is king in my video games. That said, I can totally get into narrative-focused games, if they've got a great story and interesting characters. Put it this way, I don't mind if a game has amazing gameplay and a terrible story, but if the game has terrible gameplay and an amazing story, I find it much harder to slog through. I kinda feel like a great story is additive in video games imho. Interesting topic, though!

You are quite right--we are exact inverses in this respect. I love hearing that from you though, because in many respects I feel we see eye to eye on games, so it's cool hearing your differing perspective.

[The Blackangel]

I'd say for me story is top. If the storyline is boring I probably won't play it for very long and definitely not more than once. The games Steve and his friends play in American Dad come to mind. Everyone here knows I'm a fan of medieval style games, but there are also others that I play that aren't exactly medieval. DMC, Dante's Inferno, FF, and a few others. It's story, characters, gameplay in that order for me.

[Executor Akamia]

The gameplay comes first for me. While a sufficiently well done story can get me invested enough to power through bad gameplay, if the game is unplayable in as literal a sense as can be short of the game just not starting, then whatever the story and characters have going on simply does not matter to me.

[SpaceExplorer]

1 - Gameplay, 2 - Story, 3 - Setting. 

If the gameplay is not interesting, I won't stick around for the story, I'll just read it on the Internet. For me, the gameplay is the essence of a game. I've read/played/saw a lot of good stories to this date that there's only a few that can fully capture my attention in games today. If a game gets all three, though, (gameplay, story, and setting), then I'm instantly hooked to play any other game the developers made or are making.

[StaceyPowers]

@The Blackangel It seems so far we're the odd ones out in this respect. Why am I not surprised? =D

@SpaceExplorer You mentioned that "there's only a few" stories in games today that can capture your full attention. Which games have you played which really impressed you in terms of their stories? 

[SpaceExplorer]

As I've said in the other thread, Ori and the Blind Forest has a story that gets you from the start and holds you to the end. That game got everything right. It's my recommendation even to people that don't play video games as much.

Bioshock Infinite with both its Burial at the Sea DLCs is also a game that captured me in terms of the story. Especially after playing the prequels.

[kingpotato]

I will agree with many here, Gameplay comes first , I will always prefer a game with a great story but only if the gameplay is of the same great quality.

[skyfire]

Story does matter. Especially if you are into playing the campaign based single player game. I am into those type of games, so the story does matter. That's one reason I prefer Age of Mythology over the Age of Empires. I think story based games are rare these days but they are worth spending time over.