Should Gameplay be Sacrificed for Story?

[CooledEvergreen]

If you are to look at games such as Life is Strange, Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, Oxenfree and so on, and were to look at it purely from a gameplay perspective, it would look pretty mundane, basically a walking simulator with dialogue choices and QTEs thrown into the mix. The excuse for this is that the story, characters and "choices matter" aspect makes up for the gameplay.

I've seen some people say that it isn't a good enough excuse for the poor gameplay, that actually playing the game should be the top priority.

Which leads me to this question: if the story, characters and choices in a game are well-made and thought out, is it enough to have lackluster gameplay? Personally, I think so. I recently played through Oxenfree, a game where you walk around an island choosing dialogue options and playing very simple QTEs, not very thrilling, but the story and atmosphere drew me in and kept me playing to the end.

Edited June 9, 2016 by CooledEvergreen

[Jedi]

I personally believe gameplay>story, in almost every situation is important, there are some outlying examples for me personally (Such as Morrowind), but overall if a game isn't fun for me to play, then I won't go through its story regardless of how good it is.

Just how I am though, I know this isn't a popular opinion.

[maybe]

let the creator do what they want for their game

[Jedi]

let the creator do what they want for their game

Yeah this in the end is key, people appeal to different audiences etc, its such a vast medium now.

[kingddd]

Gameplay > Story

but in the end it depends on what the end product is suppose to be.

For example, VNs like Ace Attorney and Story driven games are all about the writing and interactions and not the actual gameplay itself. Your interactions with the game is based on your emotional feelings towards the characters and the settings. It's basically like reading a full blown book or movie. Usually those emotions and writings are good enough for the individual and don't necessarily need gameplay to drive the player to genuinely love the series or the experience.

That said, a good gameplay is much more difficult to judge since everyone has their own taste. Would it be great if we had both? Absolutely. But developers and companies can only have so much time and resource before they can release a product that can make an amazing writing and genuinely awesome technical game. These things do take time to make.

For example, Xenoblade X while had a 5 year development ultimately sacrificed the story in order to focus on the gameplay which resulted in a massive content of exploration and improved combat system for the player focus on and gave players tons of options to play around with but the story became your usual basic sci-fi xeno story. This lead to many original Xenoblade fans to have very mixed feelings because some of them played it for the story and not for the gameplay itself. Which caused constant backlash of I like the original cast and I have more feelings to these characters more than the new game or this game sucks because it doesn't have the story as driven like the previous game I liked.

It depends on what you value more.

Edited June 9, 2016 by kingddd

[DarkDestr0yer61]

Pretty much what Kingddd said.

Personally, I feel like gameplay is a lot more important than story. Again, like what Kingddd said about Xenoblade X and its massive amounts of content and improved gameplay, it is a game that I have gotten into recently and one of the factors is its gameplay. The story itself and some of the characters seem lack luster compared to the original Xenoblade, but I can definitely forgive that considering the gameplay.

On the otherhand, a game could have the best story in the world, but if I don't like the gameplay at all, then I won't enjoy playing the game...

Considering the fact that I am a rpg fan, ideally I want a game to have atleast a decent story and decent gameeplay

[Magical Glace]

You play a game for gameplay, read a book if you want story.

Though it really depends on the kind of game I'm playing too.

[Moblin Major General]

I will say that the Mass Effect series would've been far less enjoyable if it's gameplay wasn't good, even though I rate Mass Effect 1's combat as competent at best, and Mass Effect 3's story falls of drastically after the climax.

[Tryhard]

In most games, no. We haven't really got to the stage where we have masterful stories constantly in games yet.

Despite that, I do like Heavy Rain.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Tryhard

[DragonLord]

You know, there is a reason it's called a video game, not a video story. Of course, a game can always strike a balance between story telling and the actual game experience. But first and foremost, gameplay always should have priority in my opinion. I'm not saying you can't enjoy something like a Visual novel, but I don't feel like it's a true video game experience. I'd take my Super Mario games over the The Order: 1886 any day.

[Tryhard]

You know, there is a reason it's called a video game, not a video story. Of course, a game can always strike a balance between story telling and the actual game experience. But first and foremost, gameplay always should have priority in my opinion. I'm not saying you can't enjoy something like a Visual novel, but I don't feel like it's a true video game experience. I'd take my Super Mario games over the The Order: 1886 any day.

I thought the criticism of The Order: 1886 was that it was short, not that the gameplay was bad or that there was too many cutscenes. A more apt example would be Ace Attorney games or Heavy Rain or whatnot. Edited June 9, 2016 by Tryhard

[DragonLord]

I thought the criticism of The Order: 1886 was that it was short, not that the gameplay was bad or that there was too many cutscenes. A more apt example would be Ace Attorney games or Heavy Rain or whatnot.

Well from what I heard the criticisms varied, but my point is it's not the kind of game I'm into, especially when story is favoured over gameplay. I will say that I do enjoy games like Phoenix Wright, but I feel like they belong in the category of 'visual novels' as opposed to 'video games'.

Edited June 9, 2016 by DragonLord

[solrocknroll]

Ace Attorney's gameplay is still really fun, so I don't know why it came up here. It has a heavy story, but it's not exactly full visual novel. It has investigation and trial gameplay, and those still have a lot of involvement. A lot of fun often comes from deciphering what exactly is happening in a case, so it doesn't exactly belong in the same type as other visual novels.

[DragonLord]

Ace Attorney's gameplay is still really fun, so I don't know why it came up here. It has a heavy story, but it's not exactly full visual novel. It has investigation and trial gameplay, and those still have a lot of involvement. A lot of fun often comes from deciphering what exactly is happening in a case, so it doesn't exactly belong in the same type as other visual novels.

I do agree that maybe Ace Attorney isn't exactly a VN. As the games progressed, the player was able to get more involved.

[Tryhard]

Well from what I heard the criticisms varied, but my point is it's not the kind of game I'm into, especially when story is favoured over gameplay. I will say that I do enjoy games like Phoenix Wright, but I feel like they belong in the category of 'visual novels' as opposed to 'video games'.

My point was that you picked a game that didn't even particularly focus on story above gameplay - the gameplay and story are both average to good. It's just the lack of length and being rather unmemorable that people criticized on an otherwise mediocre game that makes me wonder why you would pick it.

I don't really give distinction to visual novels over video games, so I would consider them an exception in terms of what they focus on.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Tryhard

[DragonLord]

My point was that you picked a game that didn't even particularly focus on story above gameplay - the gameplay and story are both average to good. It's just the lack of length and being rather unmemorable that people criticized on an otherwise mediocre game that makes me wonder why you would pick it.

Like I said, it's based on what I've heard and nothing else. Probably not the best example but my point is still that gameplay shouldn't be sacrificed for story.

[blah the Prussian]

Gameplay always trumps story without exception. If you can't design a game but can write a good story, write a book. On the other hand, I think that the visual novel style used in games like Heavy Rain is actually good gameplay.

[Quintessence]

I don't think the topic should be addressed like this, because it feels as if gameplay and story were two mutually exclusive elements, which is not true. You can have a rich gameplay with a solid story and vice versa. It depends ultimately on what the game is designed to, and both elements should be balanced accordingly.

[kingddd]

I do agree that maybe Ace Attorney isn't exactly a VN. As the games progressed, the player was able to get more involved.

And ironically it got stepped back in Ace Attorney 5 when the investigation system went more linear, less involved and you could only investigate when they tell you to investigate unlike the previous titles where you look around whereever you feel like it.

As much as I like Ace Attorney the gameplay is really nothing spectacular. It's basically like an old point and click game but it's done in a much more linear fashion with very little for exploration and decision making for the players. Most of the time they'll just tell you you're wrong immediately and penalize you for it. There isn't really much of an actual playing aspect. But what it does do which is in its writing and plot is amazing and great to the point where most players just accept that this overshadows the gameplay completely.

Edited June 9, 2016 by kingddd

[MCProductions]

let the creator do what they want for their game

This pretty much, but I can showcase a prime example of Gameplay>story

Fates and ESPECIALLY Radiant Dawn, those games are awesome despite their shit stories because the gameplay is so damn good.

[DragonLord]

And ironically it got stepped back in Ace Attorney 5 when the investigation system went more linear, less involved and you could only investigate when they tell you to investigate unlike the previous titles where you look around whereever you feel like it.

I've never played any of the games past the original trilogy and the first Investigations game, so this was news to me. A shame really.

[Junk]

Depends. In RPGS I play them for the story and uh I guess VN's? Everything else gameplay>>>story for me.

[Zera]

I would rather have a game with awesome gameplay that I can replay 50 times than a game with awesome story that I can replay 0 times.

Of course, there are games with great gameplay AND a good story, so seeing games sacrifice gameplay for story is bollocks.

[Hli Tshiab]

I get Visual Novels, since you usually get different endings, but I hate those stupid games like Life is Strange. Your choice doesn't matter in the end, because it's just an interactive movies! It's not a freaking game! People often hype over it because youtubers play it.

The Ace Attorney series, although like a Visual Novel but with only one ending, is one of the few exception because you actually have to think about the situation, evidence, and text to continue with the. Seriously, it's kind of hard. Same Danganronpa, except you have to manage your time in the first one and acquire certain points for skills.

A game has to have gameplay, the story can suck but you'll probably play it non-stop because it's fun. Look at Pokemon and COD, people play it for the gameplay. Although the gameplay can fall into multiple categories, like the mystery type with Ace and Dangan where you have to think. Those interactive movies are just filmmakers trying to make a movie disguised as a game.

[secondworld]

Honestly at this point I don't think this is a simple either/or, at least not for me.

I think of the medium as having a sort of duality to it, that it can be a game or a way of story-telling. It depends on what the creator wants, but either way they should compliment each other, story complimenting the game, gameplay complimenting the story, or maybe it's not so clear which of the two takes priority. I'd say this matter is down to preference, for me it's a case by case basis.

"If someone wants to tell a story then why not just write a book?" I see that one a lot. As mediums of story-telling, books, movies, shows, graphic novels, or yes, video games(and there are others of course) all have different ways they can go about this. Things they can do that other mediums can't. There are things video games can do that other can't, ways of story-telling that are unique to them. I believe it is a mistake to dismiss story from the medium as a whole.

Edited June 9, 2016 by DavidSW