Gameplay is just a tool. A means of telling a story. People seem

File: 15474915_p0.png (180KB, 400x400px) Image search: [Google]

180KB, 400x400px

>>389080568
I disagree, the want/need of story in a game varies from person to person, the majority of games I play are light on story and my focus is how the gameplay is & how I can take advantage of those mechanics to their fullest potential making it really fun. That's not to say I dislike story but if I had to choose one over the other it'd be gameplay but of course getting both is the best.

Gameplay can be fun on it sown, but story is a nice bonus. Good gameplay is very easy to find nowadays. There are millions of good games. Interesting games that engage you all the way through? Not so many. And story can be a big factor there.

>>389080568
It depends on the game.

A walking simulator with great story may appeal to a good demographic, but a character action game with limited story would appeal to a different demographic.

The whole reason we have different genres is because people like different things.

Gameplay without/barely any story is how most games started. Pac-man, Space Invaders, Mario.

Gameplay mechanics without a story are a pretty boring thing, to you. You state opinions, you don't dress them up as facts.

>>389080568
I mean sure you can't really reel people in without a good aesthetic but you definitely do not need a story to keep people in if it's good enough. The gameplay will determine whether people you got hooked will stay around for more or not unless they're literally just playing the game for the story. In which case it's easily replaceable by a good movie or tv show anyway, especially anime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykmZp5cgbkU#t=1m

>>389080568
>Gameplay mechanics without a story are a pretty boring thing
Tetris or Minecraft or PUBG say otherwise.

>>389080568
Plot is just a tool. A means ofproviding context to the gameplay. People seem to confuse it with the ends themselves. Games without gameplay mechanics are a pretty boring thing

Plenty of games are compelling without a story. A dungeon crawler only needs enough story to tell you where to go as the player. A strategy game like civilization doesn't have any story at all because it would be actively detrimental to the gameplay.

>>389080568
story can be a good way to motivate someone to play the game even if the gameplay is midcore. story gives you a goal.

>>389080568
This is a completely shit opinion, however the belief that you can sacrifice everything except for gameplay and have a game be good is extremely naive

Doom would be shit if enemies were black boxes on a white background with zero sound

>>389080568
Story doesn't matter in a game. A good story can enchance a game but it isn't needed.

File: doom cover.jpg (277KB, 800x1207px) Image search: [Google]

277KB, 800x1207px

>>389080568
>Gameplay mechanics without a story are a pretty boring thing

>>389080568
Tetris.

>>389085082
Doom has the basic setup of "Demons are coming through a portal to Hell, kill them." The story is made to suit the gameplay and not the other way around.

>>389080568
Sonic Mania and Super Metroid have virtually no story and are both excellent games

Fuck off

File: 1484101902553.gif (2MB, 360x270px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 360x270px

>>389085830
>Super Metroid
>good game

>>389081827
This. I really wish people would stop pretending that game design is objective, it's a very subjective thing that can vary wildly from person to person

>>389080568
Gameplay mechanics can tell a story though, you don't need narration or really any extra writing if the things you are doing build the story with you. Narration or accessory story telling can be good, like Ghost Trick, but games where the gameplay tells you a story are just as good, take DOOM. Combining the two, story telling through gameplay and story telling through narration, creates the best games and the one's we truly remember

>>389085556
doom is pretty boring yeah

Modern devs have forgotten the difference between action and adventure games.

Gameplay varatiery is also important

As well as the themes, not nessesarily just story

Mario 64, you have a world with multiple areas that are based on different themes

It works because you have a world

>>389080568
Dunno, it kind of depends. I'd probably buy and enjoy DMC3 even if it consisted solely of the Bloody Palace.

That being said, many of the first games that were made were conceived as "simulators" of some sort, e.g. Space Invaders is a save the world simulator before it's a game about firing hitboxes at enemies, Zelda is a medieval adventure simulator before it's a game just about finding and getting to the end of labyrinthine areas. Granted, there were games clearly designed to stand on their own merits rather than simulate anything (Pac Man), yet the point of many these games was the subject matter, and if that's the case, then I don't think it's unreasonable to take it further and say that story can play towards the overall experience of a game.

Really, it's a matter of not dealing in absolutes. Sometimes a present story is beneficial or even important, sometimes it's not. I don't want a whole lot of bloviation if I'm playing a shmup, but a role playing game would feel awfully dry if it didn't have plenty of context.

>>389086505
what about action-adventure games?

>>389080568
Sometimes gameplay can be the story.

In fact, I love it when some plot points are told b using gameplay, like how in Dragon Quest V there's no way for you to win a boss battle and you have to surrender and just take hits as your dad until he dies

File: Cobra is unimpressed by Tumblr.png (1MB, 1201x895px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1201x895px

>>389080568
>Gameplay mechanics without a story are a pretty boring thing
Yeah, pretty sure Tetris, Doom, Mario or Fifa became so big because of the engrossing narrative.
Stories are meant to contextualize gameplay, anything other than that is superfluous fluff that has no place in a videogame other than satisfying the desire of simpletons who are looking for something in the wrong place.
Gameplay in itself is all the narrative you should ever need.

>>389086871
They don't really exist. Compare Mario, Phoenix Wright, and Skyrim and you'll see the first and third have far more in common with each other than the second.