Does the story affect the game?

[GeneralAlvarez]

Usually in my socio-retarded attempts to communicate with the world I decide to flail my arms on the keyboard and make some sort of "silly-fun" topic for everyone to read and to comment on, usually with a poll of some sort. Today however something crawled into my brain and decided to reroute a few wires so that the extremities of my body can somehow flail on the keys in ways that make sense [please don't ask how]. I downloaded a few games today on the iPod and instantly erased them because the story, to be Frank [whoever the hell Frank is, anyway], was poo.

I, being a man[?] of literature, find that the story in a game is excruciatingly important and probably one of the only reasons I bought Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 [because Mass Effect 2 is quite literally an interactive novel]. Dammit I started talking about Mass Effect again.

Anyway, I'd like to know how much the stories affect the game to all you people on the internet.
[Because the internet is the only person who listens to me anymore]

 

[theonlyblaze2]

I won't play a video game if the story is crap. I had a lot of fun in the first Assassin Creeds game, but couldn't finish the series because the lame storyline. The best story I every played has to be Bioshock.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Story is ALL that matters to me. Gameplay can be horrible, but if I like the story, I will play the game. It is why I suffered through Xenosaga Episode II and why I enjoy Nazi Zombies so much. On the flip side, it's also why I find Left 4 Dead so boring. The teams behind Nazi Zombies and Left 4 Dead need to get together to make a game.

 

[Shakaar9267]

It depends on the game. I don't care about the story of a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor game so much, but for a Silent Hill or Final Fantasy a good story is required.

 

[dogmachines]

Games with strong stories make good single player experiences for me. These would be games like Mass Effect and KOTOR. Weak storied games, such as Borderlands and L4D, are wicked fun with friends because you don't have to worry about the story, just playing with your friends. You don't miss anything because you were talking or skipped a cutscene.

EDIT: As a basic formula, strong gameplay excuses crappy story, and strong story excuses crappy gameplay.

 

[mentalkitty789]

It greatly depends on the game. If a game revolves around the story, like Shin Megami Tensei, I am far more forgiving if the game play itself isn't top notch. With a game like say Left 4 Dead then story doesn't matter all that much. With a game like that the game play matters far more. Then there are games in the middle that need a decent story and game play, like say... Dead Rising.
It all depends if it is a game you can play with other people, if it is about the story mode and not the multiplayer. There are a lot of factors that make a game's game play and story matter more or less.
Ultimately there are some games that need to take a bloody risk! For me that would be FPS games. They all just feel so similar to me that I couldn't care less about most of them. Only a few of them keep my attention, and one of them would be FEAR. Mostly because getting rapped by a dead chick is pretty original, at least in my book. It is why the Call of Duty games don't interest me anymore. The same game play will only be acceptable for so long unless you add some new features, but not adding or removing a few crappy perks.
-gets off soap box- Ultimately it depends what you're expecting from a game so you have to make the call. Are you playing something for story or game play when you grab the newest FPS or RPG or whatever!

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Stories are really important for me, but I'm not above a retarded fun shoot em up game like Wolfenstien or Just Cause 2, some games you play to experience a story, others you play to blow things up or blow a nazi's arms off with a sniper rifle.

 

[Tupolev]

It depends on what the games' intent and style is. If it's very strongly story driven in structure, then it probably needs strong storytelling. But there is room for many approaches within the diverse medium, and both Doom and Marathon have their place in this universe.