91 réponses à ce sujet

[keesio74]

What part of the game is more important to you? What I mean by game mechanics (for lack of a better term) is things like combat, leveling (and getting more abilities/attributes/power), getting/crafting items, grinding/exploring. I actually like playing CRPG more for the latter. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate a strong plot/story (this includes character conversations, etc). But the game mechanics is more important for me. I'm curious what the sentiment here is. I know there are a lot of people who play mostly for the story/plot/relationships and they even put the game on easy difficulty so they don't have to worry so much about combat and grinding and such and just focus on the story and conversations and such. I spend more time obsessed over my builds/specializations, ability combos and item optimization. I get into the story but I admit that I quickly skim over all the codex entries I find so i can spend more time exploring and trying to level up and finding more gear.

 

I'd say I am 65/35 leaning towards game mechanics. What is your ratio?

 

UPDATE: I realize that I need to clarify my comments about "game mechanics". As I posted later:

 

I don't really mean things like UI or if the game crashes. I'm just talking about people who play for the concept of leveling up your character, getting more abilities, combat tactics, getting more loot, exploration, etc. A comment that "game mechanics are not important" does NOT mean that you don't care that the UI stinks, conversations are bugged, the game crashes or companion combat AI blows. It just means you care LESS about finding that unique shield or getting that ability that you can combo with your mage to do bonus damage, etc...

[Raiil]

50/50, but I can forgive a lack of one if the other is exceptionally strong.

[TevinterSupremacist]

To what? To a video GAME or to a book/movie?

[MonkeyLungs]

I think 50/50 .. equal importance ...

 

Also I hate gameplay/story segregation ... I want a ruleset and lore that applies to everything from cutscenes to books to gameplay ...

 

I freakin LOVE dragon age just as a disclaimer before someone gets mad at me ... that doesn't mean I can't criticize some core philosophies of Bioware where they think differentiating lore/story/gameplay is ok. I think it should all abide by the same rules.

[Ieldra]

If a game doesn't have an engaging story, I won't play it regardless of how good the mechanics are. If a game has bad mechanics, that can be highly annoying but it's non-critical in the end.

 

Rules must serve the story. If there is no story, what are you making rules for?

[keesio74]

If a game doesn't have an engaging story, I won't play it regardless of how good the mechanics are. If a game has bad mechanics, that can be highly annoying but it's non-critical in the end.

 

Rules must serve the story. If there is no story, what are you making rules for?

 

I always think back to Fallout 3. That game had a main plot but it was pretty unmemorable. It was also less than 10% of the game's content. And I had a blast. When I think of that game, I think of the exploration... leveling up to get new perks.... finding gear. The simple concept of being thrown into a hostile environment and trying to find my way and survive...

 

Also while the main plot was short and unmemorable, there was so much interesting little mini-stores in the game. I definitely need some interesting stories to get me involved. But I definitely didn't play for the main story (I even forgot about the main plot for most of that game) and certainly not for the companions (even more unmemorable)

 

From some of the animated discussions on the game's story and characters I see here, I know there are many who are really into the lore and plot... I suspect they play for the plot and the combat/leveling aspect of it is just something they deal with.

[BabyPuncher]

That's like asking what's more important in life, love or oxygen.

 

A story is very important, and should have as much effort as reasonably possible put into it. But just because you care a great deal about the story doesn't mean you can have any success without solid gameplay.

 

If the player is not having fun, is the experience is a chore instead of a pleasure, then it really doesn't make much difference how good your writing is. Your game is going to get panned. It doesn't matter how good your love life is if you can't breathe.

[ThreeF]

Well the way you define mechanics.....I'd say it depends on the game. If it's something say like Diablo then I more or less treat it as "let's kill for pretty gear", no story needed, no good game mechanics are needed, all that is needed is pretty gear. I can treat a tactical game as a game of different chess, but I will enjoy it more if I like the story.

 

With games like DA I don't care about the mechanics much, the story and the characters are important. It's not so much about the lore though, it's more about wanting to experience the story and interact with the characters first hand, instead of passively reading about them.

 

And I do not care much about stats and combat, I never play games specifically for these things.

[phaonica]

For the most part, for me, the the story makes far more difference than the mechanics. I thought Dishonored had fun mechanics but I was meh about the story and therefore don't personally consider it a great game. On the other hand, if a game has a great story, but the mechanics aren't anything special, I might still consider it a great game. I put DAI on normal mode, payed little to no attention to the loot and crafting systems., played without tactics mode, and I enjoyed it just fine. I don't play games for treasure hunts or competitive skills or high scores. My favorite games are just single player, interactive adventure stories.

[mopotter]

I play for story, atmosphere, characters and dialogue.  It's why I keep picking up BioWare games first and then games like Fall Out, Elder Scrolls.  

 

I enjoyed Borderlands 1 and 2 and I'm having fun with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Dragon Dogma Dark Arisen.

 

Game mechanics aren't that important to me.  I still play my favorite KOTOR and ME1 both of which, from what others have said, have bad game mechanics.  Couldn't prove it by me.  I enjoy and play.  

[KaiserShep]

If the gameplay is terrible, that will make it hard to really muscle through the game, with a better story making it more forgivable, but a sub par story will probably make it even harder for me to get through the first couple of hours.

[ComedicSociopathy]

Story. 

[keesio74]

That's like asking what's more important in life, love or oxygen.

 

A story is very important, and should have as much effort as reasonably possible put into it. But just because you care a great deal about the story doesn't mean you can have any success without solid gameplay.

 

If the player is not having fun, is the experience is a chore instead of a pleasure, then it really doesn't make much difference how good your writing is. Your game is going to get panned. It doesn't matter how good your love life is if you can't breathe.

 

I'm not saying you can have a crap story or crap game mechanics. A good game has both. But clearly for some people, one takes precedent over the other. I'm curious what those percentages are. That's all. I know that Bioware is known for their stories and strong plot/characters so I'm going guess that the numbers for story will be higher than most.

[Laurelinde]

I probably lean towards story (for Bioware games), but gameplay is certainly important.  If the mechanics are so frustrating as to render the game tedious or unplayable or just plain un-fun, then it would have to be a truly exceptional story to get me to keep going.  For other games, like non-RPGs, mechanics are probably more important; I'm not all that invested in the character backstories in DotA, I just want to play whoever's fun and useful.

 

I'm desperately trying to think of a cogent example of a game I mule-headedly finished despite awful mechanics, but my mind is a blank.  So, I think I shall pop into DAMP and blow stuff up with Luka instead.

[Phoe77]

It depends on what I'm looking for at a given time.  That might sound wishy-washy, but there are times when I just want an entertaining distraction and I'm not overly concerned with story.  Similarly there are other times when I want an engaging plot, setting, and characters to explore and get to know better.  

 

I do tend to be more forgiving that some other people when it comes to game mechanics.  I don't mind playing with controls that are somewhat clunky and I can forgive a game for not having many interesting abilities for my characters to use.  I guess in that way, my standards for acceptable game mechanics is rather low.  

 

In the end, I find myself wanting a good story with great characters more often than I want a game with outstanding mechanics.

[Inprea]

How bad of mechanics are we talking about here? I would say story is more important as I've never cared for games that lack one, I just can't get interested enough to play for long, however there is limits. I'm going to try to break it down to math and say that of ten stars four depend on story, three depends on mechanics, two graphics and one star on sound.

 

I've played several small press games with a wonderful story, fun mechanics and well insanely dated graphics but just loved them.

 

I'm not sure if this mathematical model is entirely accurate though. I forget the game's name but I remember a while back there was a JRPG on the ps2 that had rather large levels during which you couldn't save. The game also crashed frequently. I could not finish the game the rage i felt upon each crash was just too much. Does the ability to even play the game count as the mechanics?

[Felya87]

60/40. It's more important story for me, but the gameplay must be simple enought and fun enought to make possible for me to go throught the game. I've discovered I can't play pure FPS in first person. I had to quit Bioshok: infinite after one hour or so of game. As long as it was exploration it was ok. Than I couldn't continue. Even in the easiest setting. So I hope ME will NEVER became a pure FPS, or I will have to quit the serie even if the story return to hight level (not an hard task with how low is the ending. yes. still bummed about it.)

[keesio74]

I need to clarify my comment about "game mechanics". I don't really mean things like UI or if the game crashes. I'm just talking about people who play for the concept of leveling up your character, getting more abilities, combat tactics, getting more loot, exploration, etc. If you make a comment that "game mechanics are not important", it does NOT mean that you don't care that the UI stinks, conversations are bugged, the game crashes or companion combat AI blows. It just means you care LESS about finding that unique shield or getting that ability that you can combo with your mage to do bonus damage, etc...

[Fireheart]

Tl;dr: story to game mechanics - 95;5.

Well I hate crafting gear, too much work to find the components, etc. But a game has to be fun to play so that you can get through the story. I'd say in dragon age, the story is more important, but I think origins and da2 balanced both gameplay and story quite well. I don't really know anything about builds and stats, etc. I just hit auto-attack and hope for the best. In general for games, well I pretty much only ever play JRPGs, so story is number 1, and every jrpg has had its own unique combat system, sometimes even games in the same series. For the most part, they have all been good. Every now and then I branch out to games like devil may cry, bayonetta, Catherine, where, obviously the gameplay is more important. But at the same time they have compelling, action-packed, or drama-filled stories that make you want to keep playing. These types of games also balance things well.

Huh, where was I going with this? Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that, mostly I play games for their stories, but most games I've played have always had good gameplay balanced well with a good story, so I've never given much thought to which I value most.

[dsl08002]

80 % story

20 % gameplay

[Mann42]

Nobody in the industry tells a story, creates characters, or writes dialogue like Bioware, and that is what I expect from them. The mechanics are of secondary importance as long as they serve the narrative, but Bioware has always been competent in the mechanics department too, if not always exceptional.

 

Bioware and Telltale are literally the only companies I feel that way about. Everyone else is much less proficient at storytelling and has to make up for it with mechanics or spectacle.

[Joseph Warrick]

Everybody says how incredible the mechanics of dark souls are but after trying it I found the lack of plot boring (yes yes I'm aware of the "story through gameplay" idea). So I prefer a story. Everything has limits though. I would have liked to play the story of Kotor but the gameplay is too much of a drag for me and it made me quit.

 

The above applies to RPGs and adventure games. I don't care about plot in street fighter or need for speed naturally.

[turuzzusapatuttu]

95% story

5% gameplay

[Unpleasant Implications]

Game mechanics of course. It doesn't matter how good your story is if your game mechanics are too boring/unfair/broken to slog through to see it.

Also, it's a VIDEO GAME. GAME.

Game mechanics should always take priority over story. A good game can have no story.

While I can accept a healthy balance of both, if I have to choose between to two, I'll always choose game mechanics.

[Neoideo]

For an RPG, Story no question.