Poll: Attention RPG Fans! Do You Favor Gameplay Or Story?

[The Abhorrent]

RPGs aren't a genre of games I bother playing if I'm looking for entertaining gameplay. In those situations, I'd be more interested in playing a game moreso directed at providing that sort of experience; probably either an action title or a platformer. There are a few exceptions, such as Dark Souls; but even with that game I found myself more interested in the story and lore of the setting (even though you have to piece it together bit-by-bit) rather than gameplay. Most of the time, I play an RPG for the story it wants to tell; the gameplay is merely there to guide it along, and quite often it being little more than "passable" and "unobtrusive" is more than enough for me.

Now, this doesn't mean that I don't mind good gameplay. One should never turn that down, nor should one turn down a good story in a game which is more focused on gameplay. It's just that when I'm in the mood for an RPG, it means I'm looking for a good story; great gameplay is nice, but not all that necessary.

 

[McFazzer]

I might not be a good gamer. I like my story. I also like my gameplay. The thing is, like with a good book, sometimes I go back and have a read again. I've played through Persona 4 multiple times. Sure the first time through I used my years of Scooby-Doo knowledge to figure out who did it, but I still enjoyed the story enough to play three more times.

 

[ASan83]

All about the story for me. If a game has an engrossing story, I can overlook just about anything. It's best when a game does both right, but I'm one of those weirdos who'd rather play a game with great story but iffy gameplay than the other way around. Take Alpha Protocol. LOVE that game, one of my favorites of this generation, but even I can't truthfully say it was solid gameplay wise, yet I've played through it multiple times. I also love to go back and play old school RPGs despite their archaic mechanics and simplistic presentation.

 

[TrevHead]

For a WRPG, immersion trumps story for me, which is a mixture of gameplay and good eye candy and world building. That's why recently I enjoyed Dark Souls, but couldn't get into The Witcher 1 with it's janky k&m controls and Kingdoms of Amalur with it's MMO style world.

For JRPGs I tend to be more interested in the story and dialog between party members, Infact playing a WRPG with party members seems to be one of the best things about Dragons Dogma, even if they have a tendency to all speak at once and repeat themselves.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Can I just have both please?

To a certain extent I'm willing to forgive some gameplay shortcomings if a game's story is really good and vice versa... Alpha Protocol is probably a good example, where it had some iffy gameplay elements but the story pulled it through for me. In the end though a complete absence of one can't be rescued by the other.

This.

Although, I'm more willing to forgive bad gameplay for good story than vise versa, seeing as the number of games with bad story/good gameplay vastly out number the number of good story/bad gameplay ones.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

Despite this kinda going against gaming in general, I can actually stand an RPG with bad gameplay (as long as it's not unplayable) as long as it has a good solid story. On the other hand, if the story in an RPG is shit, I don't stick around at all, even if the gameplay is solid gold. RPGs tend to be long games that require you at least give two damns about the world in order to press on and discover all that the game has to offer. But if the story is so bad and I don't feel like I'm being absorbed into it, the gameplay isn't going to save it.

Sooo, I guess you can say I favor story.

 

[TehCookie]

In RPGs I like a good story, if I want gameplay I go for an action game. If a dev managed to mix both it would be awesome, but for some reason that never happens.

 

[McFazzer]

In RPGs I like a good story, if I want gameplay I go for an action game. If a dev managed to mix both it would be awesome, but for some reason that never happens.

The "Tales of" games are the closest I've found. "Tales of Vesperia" is probably the best I've played.

 

[porous_shield]

Considering that some books and movies have terrible stories even though they're traditional storytelling media, the same thing is true for video games. I dislike cutscenes, they, like another poster said, lock the story away in another room. Games get a few cutscenes jammed into them and they call that story telling. It'd be almost the same if they gave you a book when you got to a certain point in the game they told you to read pages 45-63.

With that being said, I pick good gameplay over good story. It doesn't take that much of a well implemented story to make a game so much better. A story game with crappy gameplay I would not be able to sit through; that also goes for any games with long tedious cutscenes.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I don't "prefer" either.

An RPG can be good if either of them are good.

Skyrim has fantastic gameplay and a meh story.

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines has an amazingly interesting story, but clunky, irritating gameplay.

I find it silly to compare them.

 

[Auron]

symbiotic. I liked Witcher's setting but the gameplay was ridiculously bad and I just left the game to never play again, I decided to pick up the second because the stories are largely independent and the gameplay is superior.

I can't remember any game where the story put me off enough to drop it, but the one that comes to mind are kotor 2 and fallout 3 both for plot holes and inconsistencies with their parent universes with a bit of mary sue in kotor 2.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Without solid gameplay, it is very hard for a game to stand alone just on its story. It has to have something to engage me. I guess it depends on how you interpret gameplay though.
I love Planescape: Torment but I'd argue the combat is absolutely terrible. However, all the dialogue segments are great, and a lot of the game is very interesting. I'd argue that the dialogue segments are gameplay, since I have a say in what is going on.
Obviously if the story is all a bunch of cutscenes and no solid gameplay between them, I'd rather skip it.

 

[Joccaren]

Both should be good, but I'll favour story over gameplay.
Most RPGs that do one well tend to do the other decently though. Its the ones that do neither well, like Skyrim, that you've got to watch out for.
Generally though, a good story will get me to keep going through bleh gameplay to find out what happens in it. A terrible story, however, makes me quickly lose interest in the gameplay though. Gameplay is by its very nature repetitive, so once I've done half an hour of it, all novelty wears off and the game needs something else to drag me along with. No matter how good the gameplay, I'm not going to keep doing it over and over again with no reason.

 

[Smooth Operator]

If you want to step up to the top ranks then you do a good complex mix of both, take a dive down one way or the other and you are quite simply inferior.

 

[FFP2]

It depends.

If it's a JRPG then it's most likely going to have the turn based combat that I've become accustomed to and love so I favour story more. FF and Persona comes to mind.

If it's a "Western" RPG then I prefer gameplay. A lot of them tend to have "dark & gritty" story with realistic environments so the gameplay better be good (I prefer RPGs that make use of their genre). Mass Effect 2 in paricular had the best balance of fun gameplay and nice story for me.

If it's a game like Dark Souls I tend not to bother. False "difficulty" does not compensate for shitty gameplay and paper thin story.

I love arguing with DS fans

Overall I would slog through a RPG with shit gameplay if the story is good enough but I won't play a RPG just for the gameplay.

 

[Ranorak]

There are thousands of other sources I can get a good story from, Gameplay is what really matters in a game. To me.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Depends which is better. Honestly I just appreciate something done well, I don't go for one over the other at the cost of overall quality.

 

[spartandude]

I favour story but having said that if the gameplay is just terrible then i wont play it. also even if the story is crap but gameplay is fantastic then i might play it but it wont enjoy it that much