I view gameplay more highly than story simply for the reason that when the most interesting thing about a game is its story, the interactive bits get in the way of my enjoyment. I love Wallace & Gromit and was rather enthused at the prospect of the continued adventures of the duo in the Telltale. However, some time into the game excitement for it was lost. The gameplay felt more similar to pausing a video or closing a book in order to go do something real quick, than it did a game.
As someone said earlier about enjoying games when one wasn't able to fully read, my lack of ability didn't stop me from liking what I was playing. Bad Dudes was worst than Double Dragon, regardless of knowing why I'm suddenly fighting on top of a truck. The only thing bad about not knowing anything about a game's story was that more complicated games were impossible to complete. Take Ultima III, the gameplay intrigued me more than Contra, Mario or Journey to Silius. Trial and error didn't deter me from wanting to play, I kept wanting to play just to gain a greater understanding of the game. But hell, a kid will probably consider most games good regardless of quality that critics assign to a game. I remember gaining some fun out of Shaq-Fu when I was a kid, but hating it upon revisitation in my teens.
For me, the idea of good gameplay needing to have a higher priority than a good story comes from the question of rather or not that game from the past is enjoyable today. Time hasn't made it hard to play the original Double Dragon nor its sequel. Actually playing through Ultima III again is more difficult due to it being my first rpg and me having gain greater appreciation for such things as the utility of skills and character classes. Dragon Quest III is infinitely more easy to get into due to its battle system being more efficient and the character classes having greater usefulness in battle. Having played games such as Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem and Live-a-Live, the structure of Ultima III only calls me back to it due to an occasional desire to imagine the gameplay good.
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Long ramble short:
A game excelling at story and nothing else, creates the desire to have the story without the game.
Gameplay that remains good even with new technology and ideas as well as different takes on old ideas, is to be cherished.
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When it comes to RPGs and story, I see the narrative as more a tool to guide the player to a possible endgame. Knowing that the Kingdom of Pedreira is under attack serves to tell the player why they can't go or are going to the kingdom, and the how and why of an event's relation to the endgame; if it's a sidequest, probably not at all. Story only expands on the world to open up or setup the options of the player. Knowing that dragons are highly inclined to collecting gold, live in caves and that they breathe fire tells one why the current quest involves one scouting the the land for caves rather than the city slums in search of who scorched people and wagon, making off with all of the gold.
