Story vs Gameplay

I think story is way more important. It latches onto my personal emotions and give me more insight and backstory to why the game is laid out this way. It really puts the game together to give you a reason for you to even play the game. I mean you have the beginning, climax, and end of the game. Don't you need the story to define those moments? Whether the climax is fighting the antagonist for the final time or doing something else, the story really pulls everything together to make a game more enjoyable.

 

Most certainly gameplay. If I was looking for a good story, I'd just go read a book. For video games, to me, gameplay is the main objective, and the story is the perk. (Music/soundtrack falls just a tiny bit below gameplay, and is thus much ahead of story, but that's another discussion entirely.)

When I would look back at a video game I have played years from now, and remember it, it would be the music that I would remember first, and the gameplay second. Even for games like Ace Attorney, where the story takes larger importance than it does in most other games, this recollection process still applies.

I would care more about the game's engine and playthrough itself than I would any story, and story will always come secondary to gameplay when progressing through a video game. (For example, to this day, I have yet to finish Final Fantasy II, and I probably never will - because, despite the story being amazing, the gameplay model makes playing it a chore.) I don't believe a mindset like this is unique to me, but I don't know how common of a mindset it is. To me, that is not relevant, however - I know what I will enjoy in a game, and remember it later on for.

 

I really, really do apprectiate a good story. But there's gotta be some awesome gameplay if I'm even going to touch the game first. I will be disappointed if the story turns out lame though (FE Awakening I'm crying in your general direction).

 

This.

Don't get me wrong, story is important, but who here plays Super Smash Bros for the story? Or a racing game? Or an arcade fighting game? Or open-ended creative survival game (minecraft)? Or a vehicle/business sim? Seriously, who in the entire world played Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 for the story?

Spoiler

It was the spring of 2003 when Richie McLandbaron fell ill only a few weeks after you, a struggling business investor, just bought a controlling share in his company. With an entire theme park now in your soft, unexperienced hands, you must now lead this leaderless business to financial fruition and worldwide acclaim!

Aww man, you remember the part of the story when it started to rain and people were like "I wanna buy umbrellas" but there was a storyline event that forbade you from jacking up their price to $1000 each because the ghost of Richy McLandbaron was haunting the company bank account, and there was that cutscene where he promised his daughter he would never scam his customers? Or how about when 24 people died on a roller coaster the game made you delete part of the track of mid-run, leading to angry protesters trying to revoke your "Safest Park in the Country" award you were given two game-weeks ago? How about when the only lemonade stand in the entire park had to shut down because the owner's husband was on that roller coaster! Wow! What story-writing prowess they had! Where would this game be without the empathetic pens and sympathetic hearts of the writing staff!

(By the way (for those of you with empty childhoods since you didn't ever play RCT2), I totally pulled all of that out of my butt. The game is literally "Here's a diagonal-isometric grid-based theme park. There's tools at the top of the screen. We won't tell you how to use them or how to do anything at all. Have fun.")

Story is icing on the cake. Icing is wonderful, but have you ever ate a heaping spoonful of cake icing? It's nice for a few seconds then a the regret of "why didn't I get any substance in that bite" sinks in (at least for me). On the same metaphor, cake can be really lame without any icing in that bite, or the cake itself can be so good icing isn't even needed. Some games have good enough gameplay etc for their cake to be good and not need icing, whereas others need that sweet icing to be considered tasty. The best stuff has supertasty cake and supertasty icing in the right amounts. What amounts are those? Heck if I know, but when it happens, you know it happens.

 

I love a good story, but the gameplay must also be easy to learn, challenging to master, and fun. So both of them are equally important--the best gameplay in the world can save a lousy story, but a good story may not be worth slogging through lousy gameplay

 

I believe that a good balance between a game's story and gameplay is important. It should have a story that grips the player enough to make them want to keep on playing, and also a gameplay that isn't too complex (frustrating) or too simple (not challenging enough). However, if a game is either too story-heavy or too gameplay-heavy with little to none of the other, that wouldn't make for a very successful game in my eyes. But of course, one shouldn't forget to take into account the type of game in question. What is expected in an RPG game would be different from what is expected in a racing game, for example.

...Oh, I just properly re-read the question lol. if I could only have one of the two, I'd choose a good story over gameplay. I'm pretty sure a good story would make me want to keep playing, even if the gameplay isn't the best.

 

What I think is, a storyline makes the game a lot more interesting and gives its own unique charn, but if its storyline is great but has a crappy gameplay, I won't exactly play that game the second time. I'll probably just watch a Let's Play of it because what's the point of playing a game if its mechanics make you frustrated instead of having fun?

On the other hand, if a game has a brilliant and fun gameplay, I would still play it even if it has a horribly cheesy and cliche plot. I mean if I'm having so much fun with the gameplay, why would I care whether the story is good or not? Why would I let a small hiccup like that ruin the whole experience?

Both gameplay and story are important. It depends which one you enjoy more, actually. A game with an excellent storyline feels like you're reading a novel, but you have a part in moving the plot forward. Your actions and choices have an impact on how the story will go. A game that has a great combat system, etc. makes it easy to get back to because it's fun!

But if I had to choose one, I'd pick story.

 

I just played a game, a hidden object game, that had an excellent story but I won't play it again because it was hella boring to play. And I actually like hidden object games a lot. So ;a good story will keep me going for a while but not long and I won't come back to it if gameplay isn't there.

 

For me, this is true 75% of the time--Kingdom Hearts and The World Ends With You are huge exceptions.

I love the gameplay more often than the story, but there are always those video games that surprise me beyond belief with their story.

 

When I was younger, gameplay always came first. However, now as I am maturing, I'm discovering that stories can hold deep, true meanings to real-life events.

Stories have been enveloping me more than gameplay, especially this past year. This is why I'm getting into JRPG's a lot. I like the stories, even though they may be repetitive, and I play it for the story, not necessarily the gameplay.

Some games, such as Bravely Default, have different difficulties that may be adjusted, considering if you want to play for gameplay or if you want to play for story.

Conclusion: Story trumps gameplay.