Gameplay or Story : if you had to choose ..

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

[QUOTE="AcidThunder"] that has also to do with the fact that movies have existed for a long time now. a lot longer than games. plus the early games didn't have stories. so it's only natural that movies have a higher amount of good storiesAcidThunder

Yes that's very true. I was just throwing that out there... There are lots of great game stories, but too many of them I feel don't use the video game format as a way to tell the story. It's something writers need to work on.

Well so many games are presented like movies... Not saying there's anything wrong with that (not saying there isn't either) but games like Silent Hill Shattered Memories and Majora's Mask show how you sue the gameplay to enhance the story without making it like a movie.

I actually find video game stories far superior to movies for the simple reason that movies are too short for me to get invested in the characters. It's also the reason I prefer tv shows over movies. Books as well, but there are many reasons I prefer books over movies not just length.Sali217

 To each their own. Only character in gaming where I got the most invested was Commander Shep, and that was because I used my own Shep through multiple installments, and yet I felt less of a investment with him than someone like Oh Dae-su. 

an amazing video game story would easily beat the average movies story. not many movies come out in a year which have got exceptional stories.AcidThunder

 Yeah it's true, the majority of movies have crappy stories, just like the majority of video games. But the elite of movie stories just completely destroy the elite of video game stories. 

Like others have said, this is wrong.  Many games have arguably better stories than movies, some because they utilize the video game medium in a unique way.turtlethetaffer

An opinion can't be wrong. I will say that the people who say video games tend to have better stories than movies tend to be those who just watch mainstream movies.

Why else would you play a video GAME if it wasnt for the gameplay aspect?

Yes,video games do have stories but 99% of the time they are just there to move things along.

Can't say I've ever started playing a game and thought 'I hope this has a great story'.

[QUOTE="MBirdy88"][QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

Sali217

gameplay.

when i want to hear or see a story i go to a medium that is good at it not the fumbling baby steps that still characterizes the majority of storytelling in games.

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

Michael0134567

[QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

siLVURcross

I don't think so.

I'm kind of confused by all the people saying "If I want a good story I'll watch tv, or a movie".

Think about that statement for a moment. You watch tv, and movies for STORY, but what are tv and movies? They are collection of thousands of pictures tied together with cinematography, and special effects. Story is added to tv shows, and movies to make them interesting. They aren't inherent qualities to the mediums.

Story might not be the most important part of a game, but everyone is kidding themselves to say they'd have anywhere near the same interest in gaming if there were absolutely no stories at all. I'm willing to bet if you got rid of every game with a story right now that 95-99% of all games ever made would disappear. Everyone's top 5/10/15/20 favorite games would no longer exist.

Just think about it for a second.

[QUOTE="Cyberdot"]

Gameplay, no doubt.

If I want story, I go and watch a movie.

blue_hazy_basic

In the end of the day , depends the title...

The walking dead proves that heavily story driven games that are SOLID , not just good , can compete with great gameplay games...

  Dont tell me the walking dead series had great gameplay !! Though it was one of the best franchise i played this gen.. So what again ? Gameplay over Story ? It really , really depends. Generally gameplay >> story but games like The walking dead or Indigo prophecy makes you think otherwise.

AzatiS

Neither....

Gameplay, if you want story then why not just watch a movie?

Gameplay, if you want story then why not just watch a movie?

DivineSword

What good is gameplay without a story. Why keep playing? Of course this doesn't apply to all genres.

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

Michael0134567

Gameplay, if you want story then why not just watch a movie?

DivineSword

[QUOTE="AzatiS"]

In the end of the day , depends the title...

The walking dead proves that heavily story driven games that are SOLID , not just good , can compete with great gameplay games...

  Dont tell me the walking dead series had great gameplay !! Though it was one of the best franchise i played this gen.. So what again ? Gameplay over Story ? It really , really depends. Generally gameplay >> story but games like The walking dead or Indigo prophecy makes you think otherwise.

Lulekani

What is a game with horrible gameplay? A miserable little pile of shit.

Gameplay, but I enjoy games with crappy gameplay if the story is good enough.

[QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

MBirdy88

I find it rather odd.

[QUOTE="Lulekani"][QUOTE="DivineSword"]

Gameplay, if you want story then why not just watch a movie?

DivineSword

[QUOTE="MBirdy88"][QUOTE="Michael0134567"]

Gameplay. That's why I play games.

Michael0134567

I find it rather odd.

They don't read.

I can understand that but if we let our tastes aside , The walking dead for example , was one of the best series this generation ( sales, hype , scores , reception etc ) and it was a story driven game. Same happened with Indigo prophecy last gen. Metal Gear Solid 4 also scored high as well. I understand your logic but its also a fact that on big video game releases , like COD series , CINEMA ticket sales goes down. For many people out there video gaming is the only way of entertainment therefore theres alot of room for story driven games imho.AzatiS

If the gameplay is terrible then what is the point in playing a game.  If I really wanted a good story I would watch a movie or read a book. 

How many times does this thread have to show up?

Yes it's gaming and people want good gameplay, but it depends on what the game is going for, and a game can be great even if it's core gameplay is not.

I'm kind of confused by all the people saying "If I want a good story I'll watch tv, or a movie".

Think about that statement for a moment. You watch tv, and movies for STORY, but what are tv and movies? They are collection of thousands of pictures tied together with cinematography, and special effects. Story is added to tv shows, and movies to make them interesting. They aren't inherent qualities to the mediums.

Story might not be the most important part of a game, but everyone is kidding themselves to say they'd have anywhere near the same interest in gaming if there were absolutely no stories at all. I'm willing to bet if you got rid of every game with a story right now that 95-99% of all games ever made would disappear. Everyone's top 5/10/15/20 favorite games would no longer exist.

Just think about it for a second.

Ly_the_Fairy

both

I wouldn't consider the games that I play to have "good" stories and I enjoy them, so gameplay.

[QUOTE="Ly_the_Fairy"]

I'm kind of confused by all the people saying "If I want a good story I'll watch tv, or a movie".

Think about that statement for a moment. You watch tv, and movies for STORY, but what are tv and movies? They are collection of thousands of pictures tied together with cinematography, and special effects. Story is added to tv shows, and movies to make them interesting. They aren't inherent qualities to the mediums.

Story might not be the most important part of a game, but everyone is kidding themselves to say they'd have anywhere near the same interest in gaming if there were absolutely no stories at all. I'm willing to bet if you got rid of every game with a story right now that 95-99% of all games ever made would disappear. Everyone's top 5/10/15/20 favorite games would no longer exist.

Just think about it for a second.

Gibsonsg527

But like I said, a movie is just thousands of pictures tied together with cinematography, and special effects.

All video games are is essentially the same thing, but with a controllable mix of pixels thrown in

What I'm saying is that it's ironic to state that if you want story you'd watch a movie instead because a movie is no more a story-telling medium than video games are.

My following point is that I simply don't think anyone would even really care about video games if there were no stories involved. In fact the medium might as well be dead altogether at that point. We'd just have pong, asteroids, and tetris forever.

As a gamer it's painful to even come to the conclusion that I'd choose gameplay over story. I need both, and if I don't get both then I'd just not game at all. It doesn't matter if story isn't the most important aspect. It is still an incredibly important aspect of the medium regardless.

Use gameplay to tell a great story. It's the best way to go about it. Games ranging from indie to triple A listings are capable of this.

I think one problem that causes stories in games to appear "bad" to people is that the player gets removed from it during gameplay. Some games don't blend in the two properly and use cutscenes to fill in the gaps instead of trying to blend them. For example, when you are done watching a cutscene, you are given one or multiple objectives or something to do in the game. When you are in the game, you forget about the story because you are focused on completing the objectives given to you. The story then decides to open up again only when you complete these tasks. It's generally a huge offender when cutscenes exceed the capabilities of a game. Not all games do this of course, but I'm going to assume the games that sell high in the millions are the ones using cutscenes to fill the gaps.

I think it would help to not compare how a story in a game is told compared to movies and books because they all tell stories differently. I think that if people wanted game stories to be more like movies, you'd have a lot more cutscenes to deal with or if they wanted them to be more like book stories, you would probably have to use a lot of your imagination to fill in the blanks. I understand people make those comparisons to try to see how they "gauge" in terms of entertainment and quality, but at the same time, it feels those comparisons only use the rubrics of movies to games. It seems to defeat the purpose of looking at the stories in games, especially when a common opinion stated about a game's story tends to be "it's shit" instead of something substantial.

Instead of making comparisons, we should probably first see a story for what it is instead of trying to be the judge, jury, and executioners of game stories. Treat it like an english class assignment; look at the theme, atmosphere, mood, tone, symbolism, etc. See if there's anything you can learn from it, whether you find it to be good or bad. Open yourself up to it a little more and see how well it blends the gameplay with itself before making comparisons to stories from other mediums.

Gameplay, that's how I actually made it through Dishonored.

It's not really a game without gameplay, so gameplay, you can't call something a game without gameplay, but then again *looks at Heavy Rain*layton2012

[QUOTE="layton2012"]It's not really a game without gameplay, so gameplay, you can't call something a game without gameplay, but then again *looks at Heavy Rain*Sali217

[QUOTE="Sali217"][QUOTE="layton2012"]It's not really a game without gameplay, so gameplay, you can't call something a game without gameplay, but then again *looks at Heavy Rain*tagyhag

[QUOTE="layton2012"]It's not really a game without gameplay, so gameplay, you can't call something a game without gameplay, but then again *looks at Heavy Rain*Sali217

[QUOTE="Sali217"][QUOTE="layton2012"]It's not really a game without gameplay, so gameplay, you can't call something a game without gameplay, but then again *looks at Heavy Rain*layton2012

Use gameplay to tell a great story. It's the best way to go about it. Games ranging from indie to triple A listings are capable of this.

I think one problem that causes stories in games to appear "bad" to people is that the player gets removed from it during gameplay. Some games don't blend in the two properly and use cutscenes to fill in the gaps instead of trying to blend them. For example, when you are done watching a cutscene, you are given one or multiple objectives or something to do in the game. When you are in the game, you forget about the story because you are focused on completing the objectives given to you. The story then decides to open up again only when you complete these tasks. It's generally a huge offender when cutscenes exceed the capabilities of a game. Not all games do this of course, but I'm going to assume the games that sell high in the millions are the ones using cutscenes to fill the gaps.

I think it would help to not compare how a story in a game is told compared to movies and books because they all tell stories differently. I think that if people wanted game stories to be more like movies, you'd have a lot more cutscenes to deal with or if they wanted them to be more like book stories, you would probably have to use a lot of your imagination to fill in the blanks. I understand people make those comparisons to try to see how they "gauge" in terms of entertainment and quality, but at the same time, it feels those comparisons only use the rubrics of movies to games. It seems to defeat the purpose of looking at the stories in games, especially when a common opinion stated about a game's story tends to be "it's shit" instead of something substantial.

Instead of making comparisons, we should probably first see a story for what it is instead of trying to be the judge, jury, and executioners of game stories. Treat it like an english class assignment; look at the theme, atmosphere, mood, tone, symbolism, etc. See if there's anything you can learn from it, whether you find it to be good or bad. Open yourself up to it a little more and see how well it blends the gameplay with itself before making comparisons to stories from other mediums.

Valiant_Rebel

I finished Alone in the Dark yesterday (the 2008 game).

Enough said.

Almost always gameplay.

I almost always prefer Gameplay, but I'm not so sure what to pick from the poll choices. A really bad story (by which I mean a really, REALLY bad story) is usually only acceptable if the gameplay is absolutely phenomenal. Merely "good" gameplay doesn't cut it.

On the other hand, I'm willing to sit through mediocre gameplay if the story is mind-blowing enough to make it worthwhile. 

If the gameplay is terrible then what is the point in playing a game.  If I really wanted a good story I would watch a movie or read a book. 

Gibsonsg527

And if i wanted a good story to interact with, i'd play a game with a good story. Something films or books couldn't possibly ever offer me.

That statement is as stupid as it is old, to be honest, no offense meant to you.

These are completely different mediums. And just because storytelling is naturaly superior in the film medium, does not mean i'm going to fundamentally enjoy the plot itself more.