Story vs Gameplay

[jemmie]

Gameplay is what ultimately matters in a game. Even if the story sucks, you can always ignore the story and focus on enjoying playing the game. Besides, in a lot of games, the story is only part of the game. If you play a game just for its story and hate the gameplay, the post-game/multiplayer won't be as good.

[ExHaseo]

Gameplay is by far more important. That's what makes it a video game. If I just wanted to experience a good story, I could watch a TV show, or a movie, or read a book, or a comic book. I play games because I want to have fun and actually do something.

 

Granted, the best games have both.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Rawrgna

[Homunculus669]

Well they're called 'video games' for a reason. Phantasy star had a horrible story, even though the gameplay kept me playing for over 90 hours.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Homunculus669

[KratosTheMighty]

Story draws me in, gameplay keeps me playing. 

[Goro]

Story draws me in, gameplay keeps me playing. 

Yes, this is the best explanation for me. I need both.

[StrickenBiged]

Games are best when they get both right. Take Naughty Dog's The Last of Us for example. The gameplay mechanics of stealthing around clickers made sense because the story told you that they were blind but with hyper-sensitive hearing. Humans don't have this level of hearing, so stealth is easier with them, but you have to remain out of their line of sight. You have to play encounters with each completely differently and it makes sense in the story.

 

I also like it when games use their medium to mess with you in a way that makes sense. Take Andrew Ryan's famous speech in Bioshock which makes you question every time you've blindly followed an objective just because an NPC told you to do something, or the bit in Batman: Arkham Asylum when the scarecrow attacks you and the game literally freezes and glitches for a few seconds. I literally thought that my PS3 had crashed, and was getting up off the sofa to do a hard-reset. Brilliant use of story and gameplay.

 

Overall though, it really depends on the game you're trying to create. Would Geometry Wars be better with a story? Absolutely not. Can you take the story out of a TellTale game though? No.

 

It's most jarring when a gameplay mechanic doesn't make sense given the world that they've created. Like explosive barrels being sat in a museum for no reason other than "because videogame".

[CaptainAskHole]

gameplay > story...

 

I prefer a decent story in a excellent gameplay.

[Xillia]

Gameplay, I guess. But the best games are always the ones that have a great story imo.

[BSAA_Advisor]

Now, normally I'd jump on the "Gameplay is everything" train but I'm side with story. Yes obviously; as many have stated gameplay is important, but I feel story is a lot more important, as it can be easily overlooked (sometimes) but gameplay is something that most developers understand sells and can "re-hashed". But if you can convey a "riveting" story to an audience or gaming community, then it means a lot.

 

My honest opinion, I feel story has more to it.

Edited December 15, 2014 by BSAA_Operative

[GoldenShaka]

Gameplay is more important, especially because you can revisit and try other strategies (replay value), I think that people mostly focus in Story are those who like to squeeze a game, sell it and then pass to the next.

[merciful84]

Gameplay is THE GAME imo. I started gaming from an era where most games' story was found in the instruction booklet, so the majority of the basis of what I consider "good" about a game is the actual gameplay.

 

RPGs tend to be the exception since it mostly revolves around storytelling but even with that said, some of my favorite Final Fantasy games had subpar stories but excellent gameplay. Chrono Cross is another one that comes to mind: It has one of the most convoluted approaches to storytelling but its still one of the best JRPGs that I've ever played from a gameplay point of view.

[Ryuzaki1993]

I gave up on almost every YouTube's channel just because I did not want to spoil games' stories watching someone playing it instead of me...Anyway, Gameplay is obviously the most important thing, but if there is no story behind I find a game pretty unplayable. A bad story did made me throw away many blasoned games (like Dead Island, for example)

[liwenborg]

eh. If I would want story its just to watch a movie or read a book?

 

Gameplay seems pretty obvious to me..

[Hoshi]

I'd say it depends. For RPGs, I prefer the story. For everything else, gameplay. Especially open world. I spent 12 hours, not consecutively, messing around in Saints Row 3 without touching the missions once. 

[PLamb858]

As much as I love a good story in a game, I have to go with gameplay. That's what creates replay value. There are a few games that I have enjoyed overall that had such a bad or predictable storyline that I actually started skipping the cutscenes on my 1st playthrough.

 

Off topic: IMO, The Last of Us had the best of both worlds.

[killerJAZZ420]

Gameplay. I personally dont think games should even really have plots to them tbh. If possible i skip every cutscene i can when i play games. Its time efficient and i honestly dont care. If i want to see down and dive into a plot. ill watch tv/movie, or pick up a book.

 

Think about it this way,

Would you rather play somthing that played like complete shit to see if Guy A jerks off Guy B? Or play some thing that plays amazing to see if Guy A jerks off Guy B? 

[Dreakon13]

Just based on these replies, the example in the OP and my own personal experiences the last few months... story, all day, everyday.

 

Beyond: Two Souls is pretty much the last enjoyable experience I had gaming (probably a month ago at this point?).  Before that was The Walking Dead Season Two.  Before that was probably The Walking Dead Season One.  Before that was Portal 2 (with a fair amount of looking up what to do because I wanted to see what happened next more than solve the puzzles myself).  Before that was Heavy Rain.  Before that was Skyrim... which is incredibly contradictory, but I digress.

 

Shadow of Mordor is a good example of a game with fantastic gameplay, that I couldn't eek more than a few hours out of because of the mundane story and the fact that the ability to pin an enemy in place with arrows is one of the "big gets" in terms of something interesting to do.  Other than that it's a big empty world where your three options are always slash, stab or shoot (as fluid and gorgeous as those options may be).  As the OP suggested, Dead Island is another example.  Mundane story, repetitive gameplay, managed a few hours out of me and I haven't gone back.  Yet I sit here, tires spinning for Season Three of The Walking Dead... or whatever Quantic Dream has up next.

 

For me, gameplay is just a mildly entertaining driver to make an otherwise impossible to sit through 10-20 hour movie possible.  Obviously gameplay is necessary, but I'm still there playing to see what happens next.  If the gameplay is buggy and broken, obviously that will make it difficult/impossible to continue through the story... but it doesn't make me want to see what happens any less.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Dreakon13

[UK-Danny-93]

It's odd really. Both. If I'm playing with other people then gameplay is king and I proably have the most fun in the moment with games with great gameplay. But my greatest memories from single player games tend to be from games with great stories that play to on my emotions rather than my skills. It's not clear cut but that's the general trend. Truth is if a game does at least one or the other well then I'll like it. 

[wildstwawberries]

Ideally I'd like to have a game with a great story and great gameplay but if I had to choose between the two I'd go for gameplay. I adored The Walking Dead but once you play through it once or twice there is really no reason to go back and revisit it whereas a game with great gameplay will be fun to play for years to come. 

 

 

Parker

great point. Although, the memories of TWD and other great stories stay with me forever.

[greeves96]

Gameplay. I can get a good story from a book or a film but only games can produce gameplay. Although some titles such as The Walking Dead have a fantastic story that outweigh the bad gameplay and I don't mind that either. But nine times out of ten I think a game should always have fun gameplay.

[TimelordKai]

Be personally I prefer story over gameplay. Take Kingdom Hearts for example, that series has mediocre gameplay, but has an amazing story. Gameplay doesn't really matter to me because if the story is interesting enough I'll keep playing it. I'll take a good narrative over gameplay any day imo.