Does it bother you when people skip the story?

Does it bother you when someone you're watching play (or playing with) chooses to skip cutscenes or important scenes, or just basically ignore the story of a game just so they can start playing right away and just get in on the action? I mean for games that have a crap story, I don't mind, but when my friend started skipping everything in MGS4, Valkyrica Chronicles, and God of War, it just bothered me. The stories are good, and tend to add intensity and reason to the game play (imo atleast), and it just gets on my nerves. Anyone else find that to be true?

well, yes and no, if they are playing its their choice, they can skip the story if they want, but I would think that they should at least watch the story once, if they already beat the game, then skipping it isnt a problem

Yeah, I hate it when my friend skips the story and just plays for fun...

It does bother me a little if the story is excellent. Nonetheless, many stories in games are highly skippable. Heck, other than pretty cinematics, they're begging for a skipping.

No, if I want to see the story I'll play the game myself without anyone around me.

Like most people will say, yes and no.

If they're playing the MW2 campaign, sure skip the cutscenes all you want. Just don't tell me you don't know what's going on.

But I don't see the point in playing MGS4 if you're going to skip the cutsceneson your first play through. It's like taking the ham out of a ham sandwhich.

Nahh. It doesn't bother me, even though I don't do it.

I find it more annoying that people play games for the story. The vast majority of games contain weak, derivative narratives and people would be better off reading a book or watching a well made film.

I skip most cutscenes because I want to PLAY games, not watch them.

But I don't see the point in playing MGS4 if you're going to skip the cutsceneson your first play through. It's like taking the ham out of a ham sandwhich.

a_sh0pping_cart

The story is the worst part of the game, by far.

I very rarely skip the story on a first playthrough myself but I can't say I'd be troubled by someone who did. In my top ten ultimate hates of games design though is un-skippable story elements. It's all well and good having in-game exposition without cutscenes but when I'm playing through the game for the 5th time, I'm really, really not interested anymore!!

Yes it does.

When my friends and I bought Ultimate Alliance 2 we just wanted to party up and kick some A** so we skipped the cutscenes. The game starts out with Iron man, Spiderman, Wolverine and Captain American infiltrating Dr. Dooms Latveria, we had to assume they had a good reason and weren't just being jerks. The whole time we just pretended all the super hero's were jerks and didn't really have a reason for destroying everything.

No, i always play the story solo first

My best friend is all about getting to gameplay and ignoring the story. Then he asks me what's going on in the story now, and why is he shooting at this guy, or why is this girl following me. That irks me a little because he just wants to rely on me for a summary of it all. When he started playing Fallout 3, all he wanted to do was kill everybody and take everything, which is the COMPLETE opposite of how I played the game. But, if that's how he wanted to do it that way, that's his choice. We're just very different in how we play games I suppose. It makes for some interesting conversations...

Yeah, bothers the hell out of me. It's their choice, but for me, the story is really important to my experience of a game. The best games have brilliant stories, but I wouldn't skip the story of any game, I'd just prefer to give the game an exra few minutes so I can get some context of why I'm doing this or that. That's why Gears of War and Halo and those sorts of games could only ever be distractions untill the MGSs, Final Fantasies and Mass Effects make it all worth while. Alas, my friends disagree, they just want to shoot people in the face... which under normal circumstances would be a laudable desire, but just seems wrong when gaming... or maybe I'm just messed up.

Yeah cause even if the story sucks I still want to know what happens.

Yeah cause even if the story sucks I still want to know what happens.

Nifty_Shark

Same here.

It's funny that people complain that gaming should be considered an art form. Then I see people skip the thing that give you context to what you're playing and is part of the game's creative vision. Even if the story is bad, I value the medium and the games creators enough to give a game a fair shake.

If gamers don't even want treat their medium seriously, why should the general public?

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]

Yeah cause even if the story sucks I still want to know what happens.

VoodooHak

Same here.

It's funny that people complain that gaming should be considered an art form. Then I see people skip the thing that give you context to what you're playing and is part of the game's creative vision. Even if the story is bad, I value the medium and the games creators enough to give a game a fair shake.

If gamers don't even want treat their medium seriously, why should the general public?

Damn straight

I find it more annoying that people play games for the story. The vast majority of games contain weak, derivative narratives and people would be better off reading a book or watching a well made film.

I skip most cutscenes because I want to PLAY games, not watch them.

Grammaton-Cleric

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

I find it more annoying that people play games for the story. The vast majority of games contain weak, derivative narratives and people would be better off reading a book or watching a well made film.

I skip most cutscenes because I want to PLAY games, not watch them.

Greyfeld

I don't think he's implying that he does.

People can play games however they want, though I personally think skipping the story exempts you from criticizingit (you can't draw a conclusion of quality if you don't experience it). It certainly might mean that you are missing something special. On the other hand, some games tell such bland or scattershot stories that they might drag the game down. Once I stopped trying to make sense of Modern Warfare 2's story, for example, I felt it was a lot easier to enjoy its high points. I'd say the player is in the best position to determine how to make a game best enjoyable for himself, though it pains me to think that someone could be missing out on something extraordinary--especially in games where the story is such an important facet of the experience.

It really depends on the game, but a game with a good story or where the story is the key element (I tend only to play games with a good story as I play games for the whole package/experience, not just gameplay), it really does annoy me. I know it's them ruining it for themselves but still... For example; I'm a huge Metal Gear Solid fan and a freind of mine recently aquired a PlayStation 3 and asked me what games to get. I recommended MGS4 as I thought he could understand and appreciate it. I told him a bit of backstory, etc. A few days later he'd beaten and said that it was too short and the story was dumb so he skipped it. I told him his loss, but I still felt... upset. Maybe I'm just so compassionate I pity his not experiencing a great experience?

(Sorry for a longish post)

No. I just question the intelligence of someone who buys a heavily story based game and then complains that they're not satisfied after having skipped everything.

I honestly find it a bit annoying, but ultimately, it's their loss. They just don't get the full package. Also, I don't believe they can be fit to review a game if the story was skipped, but that's just me :P

I know several people who skips all the cutscenes and completely ignores the story. Then they are like LOL WHY AM I DOING THIS. Really bugs me when they do that but its their loss.

If I'm playing a game for the first time with friends and they want to skip the cutscenes, then it bothers me because I won't know what's going on. But in most of today's games there isn't enough emphasis on the story anyway. Resistance was a big disappointment, not only because it was boring and repetitive, but also because Nathan Hale had only 4 lines throughout the whole game and the longest cutscene was about20 seconds long.