How important is a storyline to a videogame?

[QUOTE="goblaa"]

Depends on the genre. For narrative game story in important.

But, no matter what type of game it is, no story >>>>>> bad story.

hakanakumono

I don't think thats true. Survival Horror games are better with a bad story rather than none at all.

Well, I don't think there are any survival horror games with no story, but you don't need story to create tension or get people to jump in their seat. I often have nightmares with no narrative, but they still freak me out.

For me, importance of story is directly proportional to genre. I'll list where story is most important from greatest to least:

RPG

Action/Action Adventure

RTS

Platformer

Shooter

Fighter

Shoot 'em Ups (Metal Slug FTW!)

Puzzle

Sports (includes racing)

However gameplay takes first priority in every genre.

Only important in RPGs and to some extent, RTS.

Don't care for them really.

[QUOTE="hakanakumono"]

[QUOTE="goblaa"]

Depends on the genre. For narrative game story in important.

But, no matter what type of game it is, no story >>>>>> bad story.

goblaa

I don't think thats true. Survival Horror games are better with a bad story rather than none at all.

Well, I don't think there are any survival horror games with no story, but you don't need story to create tension or get people to jump in their seat. I often have nightmares with no narrative, but they still freak me out.

You need a story to hold certain genres together. Some genres can do just fine without a story, but others really need one to work.

I'm one of those crazy people who will take storylines over gameplay almost half the time. For me, without an interesting storyline, I tend to lose interest in the game over time. Of course, there are always exceptions, but not too many.

waffle57

I could just take the easy way out and say "it depends on the game". But if thats the case, then its realy not that important. I love story telling in games, and go out of my way to get a game that i hear has one. Where as when i play anything with the Mario name, i never notice if theres one or not. But yeah, story tell FTW in the right places.

Most stories in video games these days tend to end up the equivalent of the average Hollywood film: they're just there to make sense of why you're blowing up aliens/jumping platforms/running away from zombies/hypercomboing an opponent. At the end of the day, I sometimes don't care. But sometimes there is just enough lore to the game that makes me consider the universe. If the lore is rich, then I'll go with that.

Games like Halo, Gears, Starcraft, and Half-life have rich lores that interest me.

Plus, with the recent trend in game storys where they feel the need to leave it open for the inevitable sequel, and not close it up in a **** way. So i always go into games with that in mind, and am right 80% of the time. Something i really enjoyed was MGS4, and how they didn't take that route. A series that's based solely on the plot was closed with nothing left to answer, and nothing to tease.

For me, importance of story is directly proportional to genre. I'll list where story is most important from greatest to least:

RPG

Action/Action Adventure

RTS

Platformer

Shooter

Fighter

Shoot 'em Ups (Metal Slug FTW!)

Puzzle

Sports (includes racing)

However gameplay takes first priority in every genre.

TheGrat1