Topic: How important is story?

How important is story in video games? Many Nintendo games don't really have a strong focus on it at all. I often hear the phrase "gameplay is more important than story" but I somewhat disagree. I think they work together to create a great game. A lot of my memories from games stem from important story moments. I think there's a lack of good stories in games. They exist. But too few.

Personally - not at all.

At least that's the TLDR answer.

My fuller answer is a bit more nuanced. I have 0% interest in a game that has cut scene after cut scene with short gameplay segments interspersed between them. At that point I'd rather watch a film or a TV series or read a book. So in the sense of games with a big "scripted" storyline I honestly don't see the appeal.

That said:

• I can accept that a mild amount of "story" adds character and "vibes" to an experience. The odd character talking or the odd cut scene can do this.
• Video games can tell stories (even narrative) in ways that film and TV or books can't. I'm very happy with games that tell environmental stories. By this I do not mean games where I look around and find a "tape" or "log" that gives me a scripted cut scene - I mean things like the field full of destroyed Guardians outside Fort Hateano in BoTW. That's good story telling in a game.

Also something like Celeste. My fingers literally hurt finishing that game but that's the whole point - the pain and overcoming it is an integral part of the "story". It simply couldn't be replicated by watching a film instead.

For me the story is very important.

Some games are just skill checks that I can't stand them. I can't have any fun playing pinball, sports games, any type of rhythm games etc.

However, there are the type of games that you can create a visual story like Minecraft or Terraria. I love those.

It depends.

You don't need much of a story if you're playing Picross, for example. On the other hand, if you're playing an RPG it's probably the most important thing in the game. Most are somewhere in between.

I'm with @StuTwo on this one. Of course it matters to a degree but story isn't really why we're playing games rather than watching a movie or TV show. And for the most part games generally aren't that good at it. Certainly not good enough to carry the length of the game vs how strong the story can be through a good movie

But what games do that movies and TV cannot do is gameplay. Without good gameplay what's even the point? It's the only reason where here is it not? Good gameplay can keep me interested through to the credits even when the plot is wafer thin. Bad gameplay? The story can be fantastic but it's all for naught if the gameplay has me putting down the controller

IMO: Gameplay > Sound > Visuals > Story

Considering what some consider to be the best "story" games often have the plotting and writing of a mid-average movie blockbuster or over the top anime silliness, nah story doesn't matter. Just let me shoot those MFing zombies!

Depends on the game. Mario Odyssey doesn't have much beyond a pretext story, while Catherine's narrative aspects are a key part of the experience. Same thing with Monster Hunter Rise vs Nier: Automata. And I'll pick one over the other depending on the mood I'm in.

It's like asking whether the type of flour blend is important in cooking. Well, if you make meatballs, it doesn't matter but if you make pizza, you better get that right.

For me it depends on the type of experience and game. With a JRPG, I'd expect an actual narrative-driven experience. With a game like Animal Crossing, Mario, or Pokemon, I don't really pick apart the story that much- given its either non-existent, or not the main focus.

Extremely important. But what's "story" in a videogame?

The other day, I was playing The Revenge of Shinobi. To double jump, you have to press the jump button at the highest point of the first jump. The patience and precision required is a kind of philosophy (of interaction). That colors the experience and your understanding of what it means to be this character. That's a kind of story, far more interesting than the pastiche ninja plot, though not entirely unrelated to it.

If you just have gameplay or game mechanics and rules, well, that's closer to a traditional sport or board game. What makes videogames unique is that you need to develop a virtual play space for any game to actually happen. You need to determine how it looks, how physics work, how light interacts with objects. You need to develop how it feels to exist in a fictional world. That's why videogames have an inherent storytelling potential. But that doesn't necessarily (have to) translate into plotting and characterization.

Of course, my favorite games tend to really do something with that potential, for sure. But it's important to understand the basics of what videogames are doing: even Pac Man is telling a kind of story through visual design, pacing, and gameplay. It's narratively immersive: I feel like I'm trapped in those labyrinths, escaping from constant peril. It's obviously not cinematic or literary, it's something else. It's a videogame.

29% important.

i agree with @FancyJehuty. It really does depend on the game. I love narrative based games, but i also love rhythm games and sandbox games. I don't play Mario with the same expectations as Ace Attorney.

It really depends on the game...even within games of the same genre I don't always have the same expectations. The story hooked me over the gameplay in games like Triangle Strategy, Xenogears, and Persona 4 Golden. But there are games like Star Ocean The Second Story R or Shin Megami Tensei V where I found the gameplay to be more appealing.

I feel like I have seen this thread before…anyway, like everyone else said it depends on the type of game. I prefer narrative based games (and for the lore to be consistent) and will get really annoyed if lore is broken or story is walked back(which is why media darlings like the Mass Effect trilogy or Dragon Age, I don’t enjoy past the first game). As I am looking for consistency and clarity in narratives and not necessarily quality (as most game narratives don’t come close to a good book and many game writers are midling authors or have too many restrictions placed on them). I do love environmental storytelling though and that is something games excel in, which is why I love Bethesda games and why the new Zeldas hook me so well. The world tells the story just as much as some pre-rendered cutscenes or exposition dump.

Some game genres need a good story — visual novels for example. And RPGs need a good combination of story + gameplay — if the story is good enough you'll be willing to forgive some less ideal gameplay aspects and vice versa but they need at least a decent amount of both story and gameplay.

The above is true for many other genres as well but you can often get away with even less story. Platformers? Mario is the epitome of lack of much story and usually gets away with it. But there do exist platformers with excellent stories and the overall game can become better because of it. A Short Hike brought me to tears because of the story; most of the time you're just jumping around but it wouldn't be nearly as memorable without the touching story.

As @Matt_Barber said, games like Tetris don't really need a story, but having some type of second dimension to pure gameplay can still add depth like story mode in puyo puyo tetris.

Games are such multi-dimensional media with story, art, music, reactive gameplay, changing mechanics, custom physics, world building, social and multiplayer aspects. You can vary those aspects in many ways and still get a great game; every game doesn't need to have everything and pretty much any combination can make a great game if it's done well.

Like others have said it depends on the game but for me jrpg (rpgs) are a make or break for me based on its and characters, if those are lacking i just can’t enjoy it. Gameplay is important of course but it needs a story to work I feel like it’s the biggest fundamental of any rpg and jrpgs.

I’m currently playing though the orginal ff7 and while parts of the game feel outdated it’s story is timeless, and if it’s story’s and characters sucked it probably wouldn’t be remember as the masterpiece as it is today. In fact I would say story can be so important in games that the gameplay could not be all that great but if it’s story is amazing people will go through it for that alone, though I don’t really have evidence of a game in this scenario.

For other games like platformers shooters and whatnot it can be either or, it doesn’t need it per say as gameplay is really important in these cases, but I tend to notice in these cases it’s not in your face as much. Sorry if I repeated myself a lot lol.

A story is something which mostly is nice to have but you dosn’t always need to have. If the story is the fundamental buildingstone in a game, at the cost of other central gaming ingreedience - then it is a problem. Take: FIREWATCH as an eksample. In my book that “game” is more an experience, than a game. In other games the story is almost non-existing, and it is still a brilliant game; try for instance: TOKI TORI 2+.

But there is games, where the story also is a great part of the game i.g. adventures. Try to play THIMBLEWEED PARK without is story. It’s simply dosen’t work - and in these eksamples the quality of the story also matter. (Which could be better in THIMBLEWEED PARK, because you basically gets 4/5 different small stories rather than one).

So - as most of the answers until now, it depence.