...Oh yeahh, this game has a story doesn't it?

[DJude]

Plain and simple, have you ever played a game and got so side tracked by things in it that you hardly ever actually did story missions? For me it was Red Dead Redemption, I spent almost a week doing everything you could do, except for the things that actually moved the story forward....
Have you ever done anything like that?

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Red Dead Redemption, GTA...everyone since 3, Prototype, Fable, and most other sandboxes except Fallout 3.

 

[Hawknight]

Fallout 3. Then I accidentally stumbled on part of the story based missions and missed half the story because it got skipped.

 

[Skorpyo]

During Halo, particularly at the point where you emerge into the ice and snow after going through the "Library" and everyone's a zombie, I always stop and say "What was happening again?"

Same with Quake 4 and F.E.A.R. at some points. You just get so wrapped up in gameplay with no one telling you what is going on that you forget.

 

[Last Bullet]

Fallout 3 and Oblivion. God, do I regret doing that in Oblivion, because I didn't know the enemies leveled up with you. After utterly failing one of the missions toward (what I assume was) the beginning of the main storyline, I went on exploring until I grew bored of it entirely.

 

[Harlemura]

Well, Borderlands, but that's because you only seem to start getting missions relevant to the plot towards the end.
I do it a lot on RPG's after I've gone off to grind after getting stuck in the story, but then can't leave the side quests alone. Final Fantasy XIII has been the latest offender.

Another one that's kinda cheating is Mega Man 2. I got it off the Wii store thingy thinking "how hard could it actually be?".
Turns out the Wily's Castle stages are so hard that I don't even try them anymore, I just restart after I've beaten the eight original levels.

 

[Chal]

All of the numbered Elder Scrolls games except Arena. Daggerfall's main quest had all the scary labyrinthine dungeons involved, so I tend to avoid it altogether. Morrowind just had so much more to do in general that you might as well explore it all. Oblivion's main story sucked but had some memorable side quests. Arena is the only exception because it feels like the main quest was the only thing to do, only a gigantic generic world with nothing to explore available on the side. Oblivion went back to its roots in a way.

Red Dead Redemption, GTA...everyone since 3, Prototype, Fable, and most other sandboxes except Fallout 3.

...Except Fallout 3? The main quest was just that enthralling, eh? Alright, I kid, I understand the wasteland gets boring to many and it 'didn't live up to its predecessors' or whatever, but I thought Fallout 3 was more fun to explore than Oblivion thanks to all the little stories told with the scenery. Plenty would argue that the areas were still as generically copy-pasted as Oblivion, but I thought they took a step in the right direction with it.

 

[Blue Musician]

I hardly play games like this, but I would say possibly GTA Vice City or what I played of Oblivion.

 

[Blueruler182]

No, even in sandboxes I need something pushing me forward. A sandbox game just means I get to get creative in attaining my objectives. Prototype was particularly fun for this. Nothing quite like running across the city looking for something shaped funny to throw at the boss and running back without a problem.

 

[Rylot]

Crackdown 2's "story" missions were so poorly done that it was hard to even tell what advanced the story and what was just side missions.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

GTA 4 and it's little expansions The Lost and Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

...Except Fallout 3? The main quest was just that enthralling, eh? Alright, I kid, I understand the wasteland gets boring to many and it 'didn't live up to its predecessors' or whatever, but I thought Fallout 3 was more fun to explore than Oblivion thanks to all the little stories told with the scenery. Plenty would argue that the areas were still as generically copy-pasted as Oblivion, but I thought they took a step in the right direction with it.

I kinda meant that that was the only one where when you went exploring randomly you actually found something and that pretty much every building had a developed story for itself.

 

[MP3zilla]

Fall Out games, Oblivion, any of the GTA's (I only ever finished vice city and 4), Read Dead, Just Cause 2(i dig random and endless destruction), Other games that i can't recall at the moment.

 

[Wereduck]

It's usually the cornerstone of my opening-game strategy; at the earliest opportunity I'll put the storyline aside and shift my focus to getting better equipment (in sandboxes) or building out my character's core abilities (in RPG's).
That said, the only games where I've forgotten the storyline altogether and become absorbed in the side activities were San Andreas, Saints Row 2 and Fallout 3.

 

[Calum_M]

Oblivion. The main story was boring as hell.

 

[Infinatex]

MW2 all I've played is multiplayer.

 

[Dango]

Oblivion (which is better than Fallout 3, especially in this respect). I would usually stop after the Kvatch part so I could start going into oblivion gates and getting Sigil Stones. Than I would rarely go back to the main storyline unless I felt bad for making the NPCs wait.

 

[Sassafrass]

Any FF game I've ever played, ever.
In VII, I got hooked up in breeding and racing chocoboes.
VIII, I got hooked up in back-tracking everywhere, why I don't know.
IX, didn't play enough.
X, fucking everything that could distract me did. The Blitzball, chocobo training, Calm Lands, side-quests for the Celestial weapons and of course, that bloody airship. My first saved finished game was over 100 hours long because of that bloody thing!
And the latest in FF XIII is Mark Hunting and just wandering Oerba, listening to that amazing music that plays when you get there...

And then of course, you've got your Oblivion, Fallout 3, Viva Pinata, GTAs and Saint's Row 2. Massive time wasters in those games.