Can a good story save poor or medicore gameplay for you?
- Thread starter chaosfalling
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I may get stoned to death for this, but I'll say Planescape: Torment
sure the story was great, but after playing Fallout, Planescape's gameplay wasn't nearly as good
sure the story was great, but after playing Fallout, Planescape's gameplay wasn't nearly as good
My favorite game of all time is Vagrant Story. The weapons system and combat are deep but really freakin' weird for the uninitiated. But the story and the music all make up for a sometimes tedious game.
Shit, yeah! I would like to add Nier to this. All reviews of either game complain about poor controls and not being much fun to play, but they were 2 of my top 3 of 2010. I grew up with old NES games, anyway, so I have a much lower standard for shitty gameplay. But great story just grabs me and I'll finish the damn game if I want to know how it ends.dancinginfernal said:
For this reason I am very VERY tempted to buy Dante's Inferno. But only when it gets cheaper and I have money (yet I'm that low on money).
Alice: Madness Returns says yes. I strongly dislike the gameplay of it (and it doesn't help that platformers as a whole don't tend to appeal to me, and that this feels like a particularly frustrating one at that), but the atmosphere and wondrous settings keep me coming back for more.
This. IMHO strong contender for greatest game of all time, but the gameplay was kind of questionable.teh_Canape said:
I'm gonna say: No.
I played through Alan Wake and, at the start, both gameplay AND story were pretty interesting, then as the gameplay took a nose dive when the cluster-fucking began, and it made me more annoyed that the story was good if anything.
So maybe the idea of a good story saving mediocre gameplay only really applies when both are consistently good/mediocre.
I played through Alan Wake and, at the start, both gameplay AND story were pretty interesting, then as the gameplay took a nose dive when the cluster-fucking began, and it made me more annoyed that the story was good if anything.
So maybe the idea of a good story saving mediocre gameplay only really applies when both are consistently good/mediocre.
Poor Gameplay? No. If it's just Mediocre though, then yeah. I'll give it a shot. So long as everything not outright "good" is "tolerable," I can deal.
Well, it depends how bad the gameplay is, if the gameplay is only ok then yes I agree, though not if the gameplay was bad.
But if the story was bad I could still play if the gameplay was good ^~^ I think the gameplay is what gives it replay value anyway, if the gameplay is bad but the story is good then after playing it once you'll know the story and won't enjoy it the next time, but good gameplay leads to replay value.
But if the story was bad I could still play if the gameplay was good ^~^ I think the gameplay is what gives it replay value anyway, if the gameplay is bad but the story is good then after playing it once you'll know the story and won't enjoy it the next time, but good gameplay leads to replay value.
Certainly it can. (within limits...)
Just look at the more recent example of Dungeon Siege III. Cheap hack & slay combat and the gameplay depth of monkey mashing buttons for food. And still I sat throug it, just because I wanted to know how the story turned out and what impacts my choices would make.
And to Xartyve2 I would like to say: True, that would be intrusive in a solitair game. But what you are complaining about seem to be the means of delivery, contrary to the story itself.
So, yes a good story told with terrible narrative and/or poor execution can't make a bad game better. In the ideal case the story is seperate form the gameplay. i.e. the gameplay is something you have to suffer through in order to get to the story. While this is not ideal it can turn a bad game into a good book with a troublesome page turning mechanism.
Just look at the more recent example of Dungeon Siege III. Cheap hack & slay combat and the gameplay depth of monkey mashing buttons for food. And still I sat throug it, just because I wanted to know how the story turned out and what impacts my choices would make.
And to Xartyve2 I would like to say: True, that would be intrusive in a solitair game. But what you are complaining about seem to be the means of delivery, contrary to the story itself.
So, yes a good story told with terrible narrative and/or poor execution can't make a bad game better. In the ideal case the story is seperate form the gameplay. i.e. the gameplay is something you have to suffer through in order to get to the story. While this is not ideal it can turn a bad game into a good book with a troublesome page turning mechanism.
Halo:Reach. I really didn't like the game play and a lot of the level design left something to be desired but I really loved the story which might have been because the game let me play as a female spartan which I felt really helped build emotion during the story. A good example in my mind was;
I also really loved the bit set in New Alexandria.
But it swings both ways, I'm a big fan of Battlefield:BC 2 but I haven't played past the second mission in the single player campaign as I don't care for any of the characters.
when Jorge lifts you up and throws you out of the hanger so he can stay behind and blow up the carrier
I also really loved the bit set in New Alexandria.
But it swings both ways, I'm a big fan of Battlefield:BC 2 but I haven't played past the second mission in the single player campaign as I don't care for any of the characters.