Is story really that important for a videogame?
 

Unlike other works of media, videogames don't need exceptional writing to be entertaining. All you need is fun gameplay. Space Invaders doesn't really have a storyline, yet it and its derivatives are still fun to play, fun to me anyways.

And everyone I knew once upon a time would've agreed; games need only be fun to be entertaining. Nobody really started caring about storytelling in games until the release of Final Fantasy 7 for the PS1. Well, okay, some really hardcore gamers did love the stories of the Zork text-based adventure games from long past, but the masses didn't really care until the now-infamous FF7 first came out. A few years later, and now I've met people who only play games for plot. This baffled me, and still does. That's not what games were originally made to do. Videogames are games, not 40 hour long movies. You read books at a library if you want to experience a well-written narrative, not play a game.

But I've course, I do enjoy good stories in games. I do appreciate that most games now have stories beyond the president being kidnapped by ninjas. I have even played a few games where I enjoyed the story more than anything else. That was my case with Shenmue 1 and 2, Final Fantasy 4, Tales of the Abyss, and all of the Lucasarts adventure games. It's certainly something that can be savored, yes.

But, these days, it seems I am now of the minority opinion when I say that a videogame is gameplay first, everything else second. The only people who still agree with me when I say that gameplay is more important than storytelling are retarded twenty-something males who bought an Xbox360 just to play Halo and Madden. Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but after observing many places, including this very messageboard, that's the impression I've gotten.

So, what's the deal? Am I not appreciating games properly? Are there other people who play RPGs for more than just the story? Am I the only sane (or insane) gamer left in an insane (or sane) world? Discuss.

I think you're lefting out of pciture 2 things:

1- Story-driven games need a FUN story to be fun.

2- Any game with a FUN story is better.

and on Plus: a story is not just the Plot outline. But also the characters, villains and events as indivuduals... and on many games, they need a good (fun) story to be worthy

Here's how I see it... A good game is good based on the merits of its gameplay. The story, if anything, is a bonus. A game without good gameplay but a good story isn't a good game, but can still be a good entertainment medium.

See, it really depends on what the developers want to do. I can enjoy a very good story told in a videogame despite the shitty gameplay (Psychonauts) while I can also enjoy enjoy great gameplay with the most banal story ever (Kingdom Hearts II (though the game still sucks balls as a whole), The Subspace Emissary).

some games dont need it, like a fighting game.

Some absolutely need it like an RPG

Some dont need it, but are much better with it, like Shadow of the Collosus. Best. Ending. EVER

I think most people stress plot so much because the story would have to be one of the most compelling elements in a story-based game (especially RPGs, where the gameplay is pretty much similar to other RPGs, the plot just sets it apart) but other games, it's not as necessary.

Heck, the fact that people love Katamari Damacy proves that plot is not required.

Plot isn't required for Gameplay per se, but imagine, if you would, an Ace Attorney game with no plot, you're just objecting to statements at random with interludes or Luminol testing.

It wouldn't sell as good as it does in its current state of Good Story, let me tell you.

This is a ridiculous statement. I mean for very starters (and this is silly so I'm not going to spend much time on it) you could just look at the final fantasies before the ones you mentioned. And lots of games on the SNES, RPGS particularly, had great stories.

A good story is a must for any game that is single-player only these days, just as a general statement. If it's got multiplayer then it doesn't really need that to be engaging, but the story in many games is what keeps people coming back to it again and again.

I mean, simply hearing the phrase "Would you kindly" makes me want to play Bioshock again, but I'm already addicted to Company of Heroes, which has very little in the way of engaging storyline.