Do you play games for the story and not the challenge?

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beanman101283

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When i play a game with any semblance of a plot, the reason i keep playing the game is to get to the end of the story and find out what happens next. I rarely play games on the hardest difficulty to start with, and i've been known to switch to the easiest difficulty when even medium difficulty frustrates me for too long. I don't get much satisfaction from struggling to get through a level of Call of Duty on Veteran mode. I'm not exactly a world class player when it comes to shooters in particular so hard mode usually makes me angry.

With adventure games like Myst or The Longest Journey, i don't spend too much time trying to figure out a ridiculous puzzle. I want to move the plot along.

I guess i view these kinds of games as interactive movies, so i get annoyed when the plot gets snagged on a rough patch of gameplay. Obviously this doesn't apply to puzzle games or games with no pretense of a plot like Tetris or Geometry Wars.

Anyone else feel this way?
 
I like playing games for the story. But I also don't like being forced to go along through the same story twice. Therefore, games with different paths to play are fun for me.
 
Well, all games are ment to provide a challenge, but I prefer storydriven games to actiondriven games, guess that's why I prefer RPGs to FPS and storydriven Shooters like Max Payne and Bioshock to Battlefields and so...
 
I also play for the story. And gameplay must also be entertaining.

I generally play FPS games on easy for that very reason.
 
ScretHate said:
I play games for fun gameplay. If I want a story, I'll read a book.
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That's a strange sentiment to me, I see playing games with engaging stories and reading books as being much the same exercise except that when playing a game you often get the chance to change or at the very least affect the story, that to me is why I like storydriven games anyway... :)
 
i play some games such as rpg and fps for story while i play racing, etc for a good challenge.\

Most games, start off on normal, then once beaten i play it again on hard or hardest available setting.

keep up the replay value.
 
I'd like both please :)

Of course there are exceptions. There are plenty of games that are jsut fun with no story. But after playing Dreamfall, a game with no real gaming really and I guess I should be mad, but the story was so great.
 
ganesh21 said:
i play some games such as rpg and fps for story while i play racing, etc for a good challenge.\

Most games, start off on normal, then once beaten i play it again on hard or hardest available setting.

keep up the replay value.
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After i beat a game the first time through, i'll usually give the hardest difficulty a try just to see what it's like. If i can tell i'm going to get angry i won't bother. The only exception was GRAW2 for the 360. I saw many reviews commenting on how easy the hardest setting was, so i tried that first. They were right, it was pretty easy. I did easy mode to get the secondary objectives and it was pretty comical how easy it was. Prey, Half Life, and Half Life 2 are games that i've found hard modes to be reasonable after beating them on medium.

Netrat33 said:
I'd like both please :)

Of course there are exceptions. There are plenty of games that are jsut fun with no story. But after playing Dreamfall, a game with no real gaming really and I guess I should be mad, but the story was so great.
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I haven't finished Dreamfall yet because i thought the actual gameplay was pretty awful. The sneaking and fighting elements just didn't work. I like the story so far but but after the traditional adventure game style of the original Longest Journey, Dreamfall was a big letdown for me. The Longest Journey was one though where i didn't feel like messing around with the puzzles because the story was so amazing i just wanted to find out what was going to happen next. That's truly a great game in my mind.
 
I think a good story is definitely important as it serves to draw you into a game's world. Not to say that a game cannot be fun without a good story (or any story for that matter). But like Darth Bobo said, it makes you feel as if you are the main character and making a difference. Im am anxiously awaiting the next releases of Half Life and Halo, and i will most likely be finishing the single player before i get into online play.

On the flip side, I never like to set the difficulty to easy just so i can see what happens next. I always like to first play the game as the creator originally intended on its normal difficulty. Sometimes its those difficult times in a game that make the acomplishments feel better and keep you more imersed in the story.
 
Yeah...I tend to play for stories in games that have them. I've never really done much multiplayer/competitive gaming stuff, and I don't have more than a few hours a week to game, so the story of the game is the only thing that will wait for me to have time to come back to it.

I play games to unwind, and crazy difficulty levels are little more than frusterating to me. I'm just not one of the l33t hxcor3 g4m3r types.

Perfect example...The Darkness. Halfassed gameplay/challenge, umremakrable multiplayer but completely enthralling story, great acting, amazing cutscenes, etc.

Bioshock is like that but with excellent gameplay to boot. CoD SP has always been a lot of fun to me.
 
I enjoy a good story.
It keeps me wanting to finish the game and not jump to other things it might have. Such as online play or "extras" that might be more interesting.

Though no game seems to really be able to make me play through the story mode more than once. Once I have beaten something I just do not see the point of doing it again, even if on a harder setting.
 
I enjoy a story the most but with every RPG I play I must get everything in the game like in FF7 I got all the Materia, wepons, finial limits, killed all the wepons, pimped out the gold saucer, and other crap too putting like 200+ hours into the game so i guess that part is for challenge I guess.
 
I find that even if the gameplay of a game is great, if there is a lackluster story I completely loose interest. Happens to me usually in games like Oblivion etc. the only exception to this rule for me, so far, has been Shadow of the Colossus (and some racing sims :p).
 
I play games so i can be immersed in another world away from Earth. Story lines help because the game becomes more appealing and believable.
 
As busy as I am anymore with RL, I don't have time or want to deal with the frustration of getting stuck in a difficult part of a game; that's why I typically leave hardest gameplay settings behind. When I play a game I prefer a smooth progression to the story and action--I want it to keep moving forward. Getting stuck in one part for dozens of minutes or even over a couple play sessions just pisses me off. Maybe I'm supposed to feel satisfaction or rewarded once I pass said tough part, but more often than not I'm just thinking (or screaming) "FINALLY! I am glad that's over." If I have to try a level/mini-boss/section over and over and over before I get it right, it breaks the stride of the story and I really don't care for that.

But that's me.
 
I play most games for the story. I don't want to read a book for a story because it's too dull to me. Being able to interact and feel as though I have a critical part in the story is what makes playing most games fun for me. Just trying to find out what happens next.

Of course, I do love good gameplay to help keep me enthralled, as well.

Games like Halo, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid; I play mostly for the story, but I think they have other great features as well. But when it comes to genres like racing or GTA-style games, then I play them just for the sheer fun of it, no story involved for me.
 
A game is always better if the story is engaging, but its certainly not a requirement. Howver, after one playthrough, the power of the story is gone for the most part, so I'm happier with a game that has no story and great gameplay than vice versa.
 
Mindless killing i.e. UT, Serious Sam, etc, even though it can be fun, has its limits. If I want mindless killing just for fun, I prefer to play online.
IMHO, a good game needs a good story. And yes, to me it's a requirement. I try to reach the end mostly because I want to know the end of the story, but the "good" games, are also challenging enough, so I get the best of both worlds.
A good example was FEAR. The most challenging AI I ever played against and the story was quite captivating. And then, there's an example of a game that has a very poor storyline, yet it managed to keep me playing for a while: Far Cry. Here obviously gameplay elements were more important, since the storyline sucked. But to me, gameplay is second to a good story, which in Single Player, is a must.
 
Story first, then i crank the difficulty for the challenge a second time through (or third). Its quite simple. :p
 
ScretHate said:
I play games for fun gameplay. If I want a story, I'll read a book.
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Agreed.

Sure they should have a story line in a game, but if you take out the gameplay most of the stories are laughably bad. Are there any good books made from a video game?
 
I like it both ways.. Sometimes I want to be entertained by an interesting story, other times I just want, well, a challenging slaughterfest..
 
I like the story aswell as good gameply, needs both, and always start on the hardest difficulty if there are 3 options ie. easy-medium-hard

If there are more, i play one below the hardest setting...

Nothing better with being ingaged in the story, and then needing to use tactics to get further in it...Not just hearing the story, then all of a sudden you are an invinisible superhero and run by the enemy mowing them all down,...thats just a waste of time. NO video game story is THAT good
 
one of the only reasons i still enjoy a round of call of duty, any of them, is the story line, i am a big WWII fan and love the way the story and cutscenes mesh with the game, makes it that more encompassing, however, after repeating a part over and over the first person shooter stereotype rears its ugly head and i get bored with it, thats what ruined Gears of War for me, same thing over and over, point and shoot, point and shoot, too difficult to be able to move from one part to the other, after about the 10th time playing a scenario again......f--it, not worth my time

i played the Bioshock demo on the 360, neat, got to the end of the demo the first time without dying, when done, i told myself, another 15 minutes of that and i would have been pissed off if i had dropped $60 on it....so demos are great for first person shooters for me, thats about as long as i can stand to play one anyways and i dont really care to play it again, it's like movies, i can count on one hand the number of movies i would watch a second time, how people can stand to watch a movie 100 times over and over is beyond me.....and i equate that to playing a first person shooter or most any video game these days, it's too repetitive
 
If a game has a good single player story I'll follow it to the end, F.E.A.R. for example. Games like BF2 there is no single player so I go right to MP.
 
I usually play a game for its story, Its like reading a book imo, not to say that I dont read books I enjoy feeding both sides of the brain on occasion.
 
I'm right down the middle on this one...

I love a good story, but I also love great gameplay.

I mean, what's the point of a challenging game... when it just "ends?"

Or, conversely, what's the point of having a really engrossing story when all you have to do is mash a few buttons to see it all play out? For that I may as well go to the movies.

Some of my favorite games that I feel hit the mark were:

Star Control 2 (The Ur-Quan Masters for you youngins' ;) )
The 7th Guest
Unreal (original, SP game)
 
As long as I can get good quality from either facet I'll be happy. They're equally important and interchangable for me. I had a blast with Geometry Wars, zero story. I had a blast with FF8 with the no-encounter item, skipping all the fights just to get at the story elements.

As for challenge, I'm never interested in "challenge". It's either fun gameplay or it's not. The fun doesn't have to stem from difficulty. I had a blast designing buildings in Sims 2.
 
For a true challenge, I need human opponents. Challenge in SP usually means throwing larger quantities of enemies at the player, more difficult or obscure puzzles, more difficult to kill enemies, timed sections involving killing enemies and/or solving puzzles, etc.. I mainly play for the story so overly difficult means failure and having to play through the same part in the story which annoys me especially if you can't skip cutscenes.

I don't necessarily equate challenge to good gameplay either.
 
what I liked in games is rare now, I like games with engaging stories, dialogue with characters and some immersion, most games now just offer pretty graphics linear game play and triggers everywhere.

Bioshock is the only game in a long time that offers that, but it dont offer a proper world with characters you can interact with.
 
Shinryu said:
what I liked in games is rare now, I like games with engaging stories, dialogue with characters and some immersion, most games now just offer pretty graphics linear game play and triggers everywhere.

Bioshock is the only game in a long time that offers that, but it dont offer a proper world with characters you can interact with.
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Agreed. However most games, especially FPS, the A.I. is nowhere near the level of the human player. It is frustrating to play a game where the A.I. continually falls for the same traps/strategies. I wish the A.I. was capable of actually learning and adapting to a human opponent.
 
tacosareveryyummy said:
Agreed. However most games, especially FPS, the A.I. is nowhere near the level of the human player. It is frustrating to play a game where the A.I. continually falls for the same traps/strategies. I wish the A.I. was capable of actually learning and adapting to a human opponent.
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Some ware on the web there is a checkers and/or chess game where you can't win because the AI is too good you should give that a shot.

If AI was advanced enough to be human like you would die with only a few bad guys game would be too hard.
 
I play for fun and story. There have been games with awful stories that I've played for fun, and there have been games with less-than-stellar gameplay that I've played through for the story. It all really depends on the game, but I'd say I'd much prefer a hammy story to bad gameplay. If the gameplay is enjoyable enough, a bad story isn't a big deal.
 
ScretHate said:
I play games for fun gameplay. If I want a story, I'll read a book.
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Same here. +1 not reading the rest of the thread
I play for fun. If its difficult great. But the story is just background noise to the fun of blowing up the bad guys, whoever they are. I get bored and frustrated when games get difficult. I got pissed at farcry when the monkey started showing up. Between creeping close enough to one shot silenced shot the people, or sniping at a distance, the monkeys just annoyed me as you couldn't do either.

Maybe its because its just not my genre, but the opening sequence to bioshock just bored me. I dont care if the plane crashed or why it crashed. I dont care why theres a freaking tower connected to an underwater city. Just give me a gun and some bad guys.
 
I play for fun and to have fun I need enjoyable gameplay and a good story to keep me hooked. That said I rarely play any games these days since they rarely seem to meet either condition by themselves let alone together anymore. :'(
 
BladeVenom said:
Sure they should have a story line in a game, but if you take out the gameplay most of the stories are laughably bad. Are there any good books made from a video game?
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Halo, believe it or not. :) Four books written by William Dietz and Eric Nylund.

Those are the only ones I've read, but I've seen Republic Commando, WoW(? Some MMO), etc., books as well.
 
I play singleplayer games for story as you don't get any multiplayer games with any real story attached to them. I tend to play singleplayer games on either easy or medium because I don't like this whole idea of retrying the boss 15 times and dieing then loading the save game etc I feel that detracts from the imersiveness of the game and sharply reminds me I'm playing a game.

I play multiplayer for a challenge, for the reasons above I don't like to crank difficulty in singleplayer games, and humans in general are smarter and offer a better more dynamic gaming experience than bots do.
 
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